Sonic's Black Op, Or Operation Blackbeard
by Canderous Ordo
Summary: Finished! The group, along with the two defense heads have comandeered a dropship to escape the exploding Rakshasa. But, another nearby carrier launches fighters to shoot them down. The dropship is now a sitting duck. Nothing can save them, or can it?
1. Eggman's Preemptive Strike

            A/N:  Man, I've been reading watching, and playing too much Tom Clancy stuff.  I was just watching "Sum of All Fears" when the idea for this story popped in my head.  Well, here goes.

            Oh yeah, since I don't know the official ages, I'll give you mine.

            Sonic:  20 ½.  Will turn 21 on January 27.

            Tails:  13

            Knuckles:  21

            Amy:  19

            Rouge:  20

            And another thing, you'll notice that Robotnik/Eggman's E-Series bots do not have blasters.  I decided to give them modern assault rifles.  Kinda makes this a little more realistic.

            And another thing, just when I'm about to go post this, this site goes down.  Ain't that about a bitch?!  Oh well.

And off we go!

_Moscow, Russia.  Kremlin.  January 24, 2003.  10:34 P.M. local time.  _

            This was a terrible day to be assigned perimeter security, the Russian soldier thought.

            It was January, and raining, which made it cold, wet and miserable in Russia.  The gray fox anthropoid, clad in his gray camouflaged BDU (Battle Dress Uniform), continued his patrol around the Kremlin.  Stopping when he reached the southern perimeter, as per regulation, he retrieved his water-resistant radio, switched it on, and reported blandly.  "Lieutenant Boris Provalov reporting no problems on the eastern perimeter.  Now moving to patrol the southern perimeter."  And he went on with his patrol.

            There was another soldier on patrol, coming his way.  He was a human under his command; only ranked Private.  This was probably his first mission, because he held his AN-94 assault rifle at the ready, instead of having it slung over his shoulder.  When the two met in the middle of their route, Provalov clasped the soldier on the shoulder.  "Don't be so anxious, comrade."  He assured his squad mate.  "This meeting should be concluding soon."

            The human shook his head, as if to say he wasn't nervous.  "I'm not worried about that, sir.  Though I'm curious we're discussing with the Americans though.  Any ideas, Comrade Lieutenant?"

            Provalov shook his head.  "The subject is classified well beyond my level of clearance.  It could be anything from assistance in Chechnya, to another antiballistic missile treaty.  Our entire squad is—"

            A mechanical sounding noise came from the woods to the south.  "What was that?"  Provalov whispered.

            The human shrugged.  "I don't know, Comrade Lieutenant."

            Provalov flipped down his night-vision goggles, and readied his AN-94.  "Back me up, comrade.  I'm going to investi—" That was the last word out of his mouth as a silenced sniper round ventilated his skull.  He was dead before he hit the ground.

            The remaining soldier immediately hit the cold, muddy ground, frantically grabbing for his radio with shaky hands, and after a few moments of desperation, finally turned it on.  "Private Nicolai Kulov reporting, south flank.  We have—" That was the last he got out before meeting the same fate as his superior.  Almost immediately after, a squad of eight E-Series bots, armed with silenced AK-74Us, and covered with protective rubber, stepped out of the woods, and into the open.  One performed a visual scan of the area, and then tapped into its comm.  "E-102-235 reporting cover still remains.  Proceeding to primary objectives."

            There was talking coming from both dead soldier's radios.  "What's going on?!  Respond!"  When nobody responded, the other end continued.  "Communications with the southern flank have ceased!  All perimeter units, flow to that area and investigate!"

The apparent leader of the E-Series bots gestured to two others.  "Hide the bodies.  The rain will wash away the blood."

            "Directive received."

_Inside the Kremlin._

            "Comrade Commander, two of our soldiers on perimeter patrol have gone AWOL.  Lieutenant Provalov, and Private Kulov."  A Russian soldier announced.

            "What?!"  ***BOOM*** A flash bang grenade detonated outside.  Both soldiers ran to the window.  "Oh, dear God!"  He whispered.  The bots had broken through the perimeter, and had entered the courtyard, assault rifles firing with incredible efficiency.  All the soldiers he could see were dead.  "Evacuate the building!  Get the delegations in the gunship(helicopter), now!"

            "Comrade Commander, there are two incoming aircraft.  They seem to be dropships of some sort!"

            The commander ran up the three or four flights up steps to the roof, where the heliport, and one KA-60 Kasatka "Killer Whale" medium transport helicopter rested.  The delegations were further down from his starting point, so they weren't there yet.  He scanned the raining night sky, and to the south he saw the bogeys (military talk for unidentified aircraft).  For lack of an imagination, they looked like dead ringers of the Pelican dropships off of Halo.  One of them turned to head for the east gate, and the other didn't change its vector…

            The Russian and American delegations finally arrived at the heliport, escorted by a squad of soldiers, the soldier in the rear laying down cover fire at the advancing bots.  One soldier noticed the commander just looking at the southern sky.  "Comrade Commander, shouldn't we be inside the Kasatka?"

As soon as the soldier said that, the dropship fired a rocket at the Kamov, effectively turning their only means of escape into a heap of twisted, burning, charred metal.  There was no escape for them now.

            "Cease fire!"  Ordered the commander as he saw the E-Series bots, some with missing arms, surround them with AK-74Us drawn.  "It's no use."

Well, how was that for a start?  R/R and let me know!


	2. Meeting At 'The Strip'

A/N:  Yep, it's your friendly (not in that way!) neighbor author.  After drafting a few more chapters of this story, I figure the story was getting a little bogged down.  So, I combined the next two chapters into one!  So enjoy, and for references, here are the ages.

            Sonic:  20 ½.  Will be 21 January 27.

            Knuckles:  21

            Amy:  19

            Tails:  13

            Rouge:  20

            And here we go!

            _Miami, Florida, U.S.A.   Sonic's apartment.  January 24, 2003.  2:43 P.M. EDT._

            It was Friday, and nothing was on TV, even with 700 odd channels of Dish-on-Demand.  Sonic flipped through the channels.  300-block, nothing.  400-block, nothing.  For some reason beyond belief, he opted not to pay for the Playboy Channel, so nothing on the 500-block.  The Heat don't play until later, and the Toonami block doesn't run till later as well.  Nothing good will be on for a few hours.  Yawning, Sonic stood up stretching.  What was there to do?

            He casually strode across the living room to his balcony door, opening it with little problems, stepping outside, and closing it behind him.  Sonic felt the temperature was a little on the cool side; about 70 degrees, but then again, he was shaded by the balcony above him.  "Damn," Sonic started, looking 12 stories down at the traffic of downtown Miami.  "What is there to do?"

            He just happened to look up a little, and saw Amy, who just happened to be in the apartment complex across the street from him, waving at him, apparently trying to yell over the Miami traffic.  "What the hell?"  He murmured.

            Amy stood on her balcony, cordless phone in hand, about seven stories down, screaming.  "PICK UP YOUR PHONE!!"

            "WHAT?!"  Sonic yelled.  The traffic on the ground was too loud to clearly make out her words.  This went on for a few more seconds, until Amy pointed to the cordless phone in her hand.  "The phone?"  Sonic said to himself.  He went inside, and sure enough, his phone in the kitchen was ringing like crazy.  He didn't even need to check the caller I.D. to know who it was.  He snatched it off the base.  "Yeah, what do you want?!"  He said, a little annoyed.

            On the other end, Amy rolled her eyes, giggling.  "You know, you could sound a little nicer to me on the phone."

            The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes.  "State your business, or I'm hanging up."

            "Fine, turn the TV on CNN.  There's something you should know about there."

            That caught Sonic off guard.  "CNN?  Since when do you watch anything that spouts off bad news?"  He walked over to the remote, and flipped the TV on.  "What could possibly be the big news?  Saddam saying he'll cut the bullshit?  A big terrorist capture?"

            "You'll see."

            Sonic didn't really care for CNN.  Instead, he just flipped it to MSNBC, channel 209.  The scrolling headline at the bottom of the screen shocked him:  "Russian KGB Head, and U.S. Secretary of Defense kidnapped from Kremlin.  12 Russian soldiers dead, several more wounded.  Survivors say Dr. Robotnik was behind it."  He was so much in shock, he almost dropped the phone.  "What the hell?!"  He murmured, inaudibly.  Only Amy's calling on the other end recalled him to himself.  "Oh, my bad, Ames."

            "So, what's gonna happen now?"

            Sonic sighed.  "Okay, everyone else is probably in the dark about this.  We'll meet up at 'The Strip' ASAP to brief the rest on the situation.  You'd better leave now.  Tails should already be there.  Don't know where Knuckles is.  He left out to get some pop.  If you see him, tell him to get to 'The Strip.'"

            "Right.  See you there.  Love you."

            Sonic rolled his eyes.  "Pshhhhh.  Whatever."  Click, and he put the phone back on the base.  "Well, that's one way to break the boredom."  He went to his room to get changed, and came out wearing green fatigue pants with a matching jacket over a white T-shirt, grabbed his keys, and was out the door.

            Sonic always thought that taking the steps was faster than the elevator.  With his speed, it was even more so.  He took the steps two at a time, skipping the last four.  He got down ten flights when he saw Knuckles coming up the steps, carrying a couple of 2-liters of Coke.  "Yo, stop!  Other way!"

            Knuckles stopped at the bottom of his flight.  "What?  What's up?"  Then he looked over his gear.  "And why are you in camos (camouflage)?"

            Sonic shrugged.  "Look, we have a situation here.  Get to 'The Strip', and I'll brief everyone there."

            Knuckles blinked.  'The Strip?'  Why there?  This must be serious.  "Did you already tell Amy?"

            "She's the one who brought this to my attention."

            "So, we're all riding with Amy, right?"  Knuckles asked.

            Sonic looked at him like he'd gone mad.  "Man, hell naw!  If anything, I'm taking my bike."  Of course, since he was the fastest thing alive, he didn't have to get one.  But, the second he saw that 2003 Yamaha YZF-R6 at the dealer, he was hell-bent on getting it, if anything, just to floss it.

            "Whatever.  Let's move."

            The two descended the last two flights of steps, and were shocked to see Amy waiting for them in the lobby.  "Hey guys, I thought that since we're going to the same place, we'd might as well go together."

            Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other.  They knew Amy's driving record wasn't the cleanest in Dade County, and they knew better than to attempt to refuse her offer for a ride.  "Damn."

            _Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A.  'The Strip' abandoned Air Force Base. January 24, 2003.   3:44 P.M. EDT._

            Homestead Air Force Base was first built on the north part of Key Largo, as a forward air base, and as an anti-ballistic missile site during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Some years later, the Air Force relocated the base back on the Florida Peninsula, a little south of Miami.  Over the years, the hangars and runway became a proverbial punching bag to hurricanes and tropical storms.  The site was used occasionally for air shows and the hangars and runway reconditioned during the 80's, but then the costs of maintaining the airstrip became more than getting a lease on the facilities at Homestead, and the facility became a derelict.

            One day, a little more than a year and a half ago; a couple of months before the ARK incident, Sonic and Tails were flying over the key when they stumbled upon the site, and with several low flying passes over the site, deemed it a good place for a base of operations.  Buying the land from the state, and replacing the tarmac was a no-factor, as the governor generously granted them the state's services for saving the planet a handful of times.  The only cons about the site were it was prone to hurricanes, and flying sorties were a bit of a hassle since 'The Strip' was still within Homestead's airspace, and Tails would have to radio to the control tower there for permission to takeoff and land.  Still, they got a good deal out of it.

            Amy's red 1997 Dodge Neon crept up the winding gravel path leading to their base.  Sonic had commandeered the CD player, and had Lil' Jon with Mystikal, and Krazie Bone "I Don't Give A Fuck" blaring from a burnt CD Knuckles left in her car.  When Amy objected, Sonic reasoned.  "Well, if you would've let us go on our own, we wouldn't have this problem, now would we?"  Knuckles backed him up eagerly from the back seat.  Another three minutes of meandering, and a track from Tupac's Better Days album later, the car reached the end of the path, and Amy cut off the car.  

            "Everyone pile out."  Sonic muttered.

            Knuckles shook his head as he got out of the 2-door car.  "He would tell us to pile out."

            "Shut up!"

            Suddenly, a sustained rumbling came out of on of the hangars.  "What was that?"  Amy asked.

            Sonic and Knuckles paused for a moment.  "It sounded like…" Sonic started.

            "A jet engine?"  Knuckles finished.  "Where the hell does this kid get a jet engine from?"

            Sonic shrugged.  "I don't know, but let's go see what he's up to."  With that, Sonic and Knuckles ran toward the hangar, leaving Amy to attempt to keep up and pleading to wait for her.

            "Okay, thrust vectoring nozzles are working fine," A greasy, somewhat charred, and otherwise dirty Tails said.  Thank God he wasn't sporting his FUBU gear.  Instead, he was decked out in a sturdy worker's shirt, blue jeans, protective gloves, and protective goggles.  "Okay, all I need to do is run a test on the engines at 70,000 pounds of thrust, then I can take this bird for a test flight."  He went over to his workstation computer, and typed a few commands into it.  "Okay, start!" He hit enter, and the two Pratt & Whitney F119-100 afterburning turbofans roared back to life.

            Sonic had just reached the opening of the hangar when the engines started up again, blowing hot jet exhaust outside.  "Oh, shit!"  And he stopped a good ways away.  Knuckles wasn't so quick to stop and he slammed in back of Sonic, propelling him into the exhaust.  "FUCK!!!"

            Tails saw Sonic stumbling into the path of the exhaust, and frantically hit the Esc key to shut off the engines, saving Sonic from a painful experience.

            Sonic managed to stop stumbling, and stomped over to Knuckles.  "You trying to kill me?!  I should beat your ass!"

            Knuckles held out his hands in apology.  "My fault, man.  But, if you wanna make something of it," he held his arms out, as if to challenge him.  "Be my guest."

            Sonic got into his face.  "Don't forget that I did you before.  I damn sure can do you again!"

            Before the festivities could get out of hand, Amy parted the two.  "Now, children.  Let's play nice.  I'm just glad both of you are all right.  I don't wanna have to send both of you to your rooms."

            Reluctantly, both guys backed off.  "You better sleep with one eye open."  Sonic muttered.

            Before Knuckles could counter, Tails emerged from the hangar.  "Hey, guys!  What's up?"

            "Tails, I wish we could be over here under better circumstances, but we have a situation.  We're here to brief you on it."  Sonic said.

            "What is it now?"  Tails asked.

            Damn, he forgot the details.  "I think it'd be better if we show you.  Come on."  With that, Sonic led Tails and the others to a room in the back of the hangar, where an Internet-capable machine was on idle.  After logging on to Roadrunner, which was insanely quick because of the fiber-optic cable connection, Sonic took the browser to msnbc.com. A blink of an eye later, the situation was on the main page.

            "What the hell?!"  Knuckles gasped.

            "What could he possibly accomplish?"  Tails asked.

            Sonic shrugged.  "Beats me.  What I want to know is what were they doing there, and how were Eggman's forces able to get that deep into Russia undetected?"

            Tails shrugged.  "Beats me.  If my sources are right, then Russia developed a radar powerful enough to detect stealth aircraft, so that's ruled out."

            Sonic and Tails looked to Knuckles and Amy for suggestions, but got nothing.  All four sat thinking, until Sonic came up with an idea.  "I think I know someone who knows."

            "Who?"  Knuckles asked.

            With a sly smirk, Sonic replied.  "Your girl, Rouge."

            Knuckles got red in the face, which is pretty hard because he's already red.  "Know this, blue boy.  She is NOT my girl.  Just one time, I save her life, then ask her what she was doing after the ARK, and you think we're in chat rooms cybering each other?!"

            Amy immediately covered Tails ears, and Sonic made a face.  "I don't wanna know that, ever."  He shuddered.

            Tails wiggled away from Amy.  "Too late, Sonic already told me about the birds and the bees years ago… the unabridged version!"

            Amy then whacked Sonic in the back of the head.  "Shame on you!  The kid's barely in his teens!"

            "Well, he had to learn someday.  The sooner the better!  Alright, back to the task at hand."  Sonic checked the time on the XP-run computer.  3:54 P.M.  "She's still at work.  The offices don't close 'till five.  I'll just leave her an e-mail."  With that, he typed in her e-mail address on his navigation-bar, rougebat@cia.gov, and typed in the message on the e-mail body:  WE GOTTA CHAT.  BE AT WEB-CAM @ 6.

A/N:  Yep, I have Rouge in the CIA.  Remember in SA2 when Shadow exposed Rouge as a government spy?  Anyways, R/R, or e-mail me, and let me know I still have an audience here.  Next chapter, playing Halo, Tails' brainchild, and intelligence from Rouge.  Peace!


	3. And You Call This Intelligence Work?

            A/N:  Heh heh.  Sorry for the delay, folks.  Just when I was about to post this one, my floppy disk decided flip me the bird, and corrupt itself.  The good news is I only lost this chapter, and the next.  After that, I'm back on schedule.

            On a side note, I just realized that the Russian KGB went belly up in 1991.  So, instead of the KGB Head captured with our Sec. of Defense, we have the Russian FSB (Federal Security Bureau) Head.

            Ryan Perreault, if you're still reading this, thanks for the heads up.

            One other thing.  Since I forgot in the first two chapters, here are my disclaimers:  Sonic and co. belongs to Sega.  Halo belongs to Bungie Studios, which belongs to Microsoft.  F/A-22 Raptor is owned by Lockheed Martin Corporation.

            And for the sake of references, here are the ages once again:

            Sonic:  20 ½.  Will be 21 on January 27.

            Knuckles:  21

            Amy:  19

            Tails:  13

            Rouge:  20

            And here we go!

            _McLean, Virginia.  Central Intelligence Agency.  George Bush Center For Intelligence.  January 24, 2003.  4:24 P.M. EDT._

            Rouge checked her e-mail one last time before heading home.  She scrolled down her inbox.  Junk mail, junk mail… commanche_156@yahoo.com?  The subject line only had the words 'open it up and read it'.  That e-mail address… "Wait, that's Sonic and Tails' e-mail…" she murmured.  Then, it hit her.  "Of course they'd want to know more about the situation."  But, what good would she be?  The top has been tight-lipped about it ever since it started.  All information about the situation had been classified level Delta.  As a field agent on desk duty, she only had level Rho clearance.  The only information she was able to get had come from unofficial channels; she couldn't guarantee the authenticity.

            Even at that, what if she was caught leaking unofficial information?  Wouldn't that be espionage or treason?  Surely, her own government would understand giving Sonic information about anything related to Eggman, right?  

With that in mind, she opened up the mail.  "Cam-chat at six, eh?"  She heard footsteps coming down her aisle.  Turning her head, she could see Staff Operations Officer Scott Dowell, or 'Boss' as she called him, a thirty-year-old anthropod bloodhound coming toward her.  She quickly closed down her e-mail, not wanting to arouse suspicion.  "Hey, Boss.  Anything new yet?"

Dowell shook his head.  "Nothing that has been declassified to your level yet."

In other words, she didn't need to know yet, or he for that matter.  "Probably didn't go down to your level yet."  Rouge smirked.

Dowell smirked.  "Oh trust me, Bat.  It's well within my level of clearance.  There's nothing else that you can do here today.  Take-off, kid.  You're excused."

"Thanks, Boss!"  With that, she shut down her Windows 2000-run computer, and headed home.

_Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A.  'The Strip', hangar.  January 24, 2003.  5:25 P.M. EDT._

Sonic studied the schematics and parts scattered around the hangar, then glanced at Tails, who was making some kind adjustment on the workstation nearby.  "So, how's the Hurricane coming along?"  Sonic asked.

"Everything's working fine so far.  All I have to do is install the engines, and a few other things, and I'll have the bird flying in about a month."

Tails conceived the idea of the Hurricane a few months ago after Sonic went on a deep recon mission for the CIA and military R & D (Research and Development) to obtain data on the schematics and performance of Dr. Robotnik's new air superiority fighter, the Reaper.  Tails knew that the Tornado 2/Cyclone wouldn't stand a chance against it; The Tornado 2 was more like an attack aircraft.  He needed a new design, but he had nothing to base it on.

One day, while playing his favorite game on the PS2, Ace Combat 04:  Shattered Skies, it hit him.  As soon as he unlocked the X-02, his mind was set on making it a reality.  His version of the X-02 would feature variable geometry wings shaped like wide 'V's.  At high velocity, the wings would fold into the traditional sweptback position for less drag, and would unfold like a switchblade at low speeds to provide very high maneuverability during dogfights.  It also sports canards (they're like mini wings) just behind the cockpit.  Two Pratt & Whitney F100-119 afterburning turbofans, the same engines powering the F/A-22 Raptor, power the jet with thrust vectoring (the engines are able to control pitch and roll directly, along with the elevator).  The jet didn't have the traditional separate rudder and elevator assembly; it had a marriage of the two aptly called the 'ruddervator' by Tails.  Added to the design was a rear radar system, located in a large boom at the rear of the jet between the engine housings, allowing the jet to fire at targets behind it, and VTOL (Vertical TakeOff and Landing) capabilities.  Weapons wise, the Hurricane has eight hard points (weapon loading stations), all internal to reduce its radar signature, can carry missiles and bombs of any configuration, and an internal 20mm Vulcan cannon.

A couple of questions came to Sonic.  "I have two questions:  where did you get the parts from, and why use an unproven design?"

Tails smiled.  "First answer, the crew chiefs at Homestead said they had plenty of spares. Second answer, I did the math in my head.  It will work.  You'll see in about a month."

A celebratory shout from Amy, and a loud curse from Knuckles directed Sonic's attention to the lounge next to the office.  Sonic walked in to see Amy and Knuckles playing a game of Halo.  From first glance, he could see they were on the "Damnation" map, and he stood in the doorjamb to watch for awhile.  A few seconds later, Knuckles' red Master Chief spun around and dropped dead by a headshot from Amy's sniper rifle.  "Damn!"  Sonic's eyes widened.  He didn't know Amy was that good.

"Motherfucker!"  Knuckles cursed, doing a good imitation of how Peoples off of "Shaft" cursed.

"Woohoo!"  Amy whooped.

Sonic chuckled.  "Ooooh, Knux, you gonna let her get away with doing you like that?"

Knuckles snorted.  "Pshhhhh!  That was just luck!"

"Oh?"  Amy asked innocently.  "You call three straight headshots luck?!"

Sonic's jaw hit the floor.  Three straight headshots?  It was impossible to get three straight hits with the sniper rifle.  "Start a new game.  Get me in.  Same map."  This, he had to see for himself.

_Half an hour later…_

Sonic's rocket launcher shot at Knuckles' feet, fragging him and sending him flying about thirty feet in the air.  He held 'back' to check the score.  Valkyrie (Amy):  24; 187man (Sonic):  24; Beast (Knuckles):  19.  One more frag until victory for him… and for Amy.  Sonic and Amy made a small friendly wager that if she won, they would have to kiss on the lips, for two seconds.  Sonic knew that two seconds could be an eternity, as five seconds could be in a football or basketball game.  For the sake of his pride, he could not lose.  Hang on, Amy didn't have to go after him…  "Knucklehead, hide!  With my luck, you'll be her last frag!"

"Man, hell naw!  I ain't pullin' back just because of you!  I can still win this!"  Knuckles snapped.

Sonic clucked his tongue.  "Fine, but if she frags you, I'm kicking your ass!"

Amy laughed.  "Oh don't worry, Sonic.  I'm going straight for you anyways."

Sonic dropped down to the ground below to the rocket launcher, losing some shields.  That's alright, they'll recharge later.  He happened to look at Amy's screen, and saw something that scared the hell outta him:  her sniper scope zoomed and centered on a head.  The name above the sight:  187man.  He's had it.  "Aw, fuck!"  He cursed ala Cartman.  Amy pulled the trigger, Sonic's blue Master Chief spun around and fell dead, and the game announced "Game over."  Shocked, Sonic's controller fell from his hands, clattering unceremoniously on the concrete.

"Yahoo!  I won!"  Amy pumped her fist in the air triumphantly.  "Well Sonic?  Time to pay up."

Sonic shook his head.  Beaten at his own game, and during a bet.  "Sonufabitch."  He swore.  He turned to her, took a deep breath…

…Then, at a most opportune (or inopportune for Amy) moment, Tails ran in.  "Hey guys!  It's six already!"

"Bet!"  Sonic bolted up, and skirted for the office, to Amy's dismay.  "Knux, turn off 'the brick' (My nickname for the X-Box.  That thing weighs a ton compared to everything else)."

"Tails! I was this close!"  Amy whined, holding her thumb and forefinger a millimeter apart.  "Couldn't you have waited a few more seconds?!"  Before getting up and heading toward 

The twin-tailed fox blinked.  "Did I miss something?"

Washington D.C., U.S.A.  Rouge's apartment.  January 24, 2003.  6:08 P.M. EDT.

The audacity of that hedgehog, Rouge thought.  First, he tells her to be on the web-cam at six.  Then, when it comes time, he isn't even there!  Rouge kicked her boots off, exposing her pretty feet, and kicked them on top of her desk.  She had already gotten out of the business suit she wore for desk duty, and gotten into her regular gear.  Finally, the alias commanche_156 appeared in the private lobby.  She sighed, and double-clicked on the name to start the chat.

Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A.  'The Strip', office.  Same time.

"Oops, she's already here."  Sonic cringed.  "She's gonna warm our asses for being late."

Knuckles clucked his tongue from the corner.  "Just go ahead and enter."

Sonic snorted.  "Easy for you to say.  You're not the first one she'll see on her monitor.  Anyway, looks like we don't have a choice.  She's pulled us in."  He adjusted the web-cam at the top of the monitor, reclined in his office swivel chair, and waited.

A few seconds later, Rouge's video feed was on the monitor, and she looked a little miffed.  "I hope you guys know you're not supposed to be late for something you schedule!"  Rouge complained.  

"Well, if it isn't our favorite contact in the CIA."  Sonic said.  "Surely you can live with us being ten minutes late, right?"

"I hope you know I'm doing you guys a favor by doing this."

Sonic smirked.  "Actually, you're doing both the U.S. and Russia a favor by doing this, but that's not the point."

Rouge chuckled.  "Yeah, true.  So, how have you guys been?  I haven't seen you guys in like forever!"

"Okay, I guess," Sonic shrugged, glanced over at Knuckles, who he thought was off camera, and an evil smile crept on his face.  "And there's one person who's been dying to see you."  With that, he abruptly turned the cam at Knuckles, who was caught badly off guard.

"Oh, uh… um… hey, Rouge."  Knuckles blushed, which is pretty hard since he's already red.

Rouge smiled sweetly.  "Heya, Red!  Long time, no see.  I see you still haven't learned to loosen up."

He rubbed the back of his head.  "Yeah, whatever."

Sonic snickered, and then yelped when he felt the chair give way, as if it was going to tip over.  He looked up to see Amy holding his chair back.  "That was mean!"  Amy chided.

Sonic regained his balance.  "If I fall, I'll chokeslam you!"  He threatened.

Amy giggled.  "Don't forget that you owe me a kiss."  She said before righting him.

Sonic turned the cam back toward him.  "Okay, enough fun.  Down to business.  Any new intelligence on the situation?"

Rouge sighed.  "Don't know how much help I can be.  Anything news besides what's already public that I've gotten was through unofficial channels, so I can't guarantee its accuracy."

Damn!  Just rumors, Sonic thought.  "What the hell kind of intelligence work is that?!"  He sighed, knowing that's the best they'll probably get.  "We'll take it.  Whaddya got?"

"Before I tell you anything, this feed is encrypted, right?"  Rouge asked.

"Ha!  How about my new and improved 128-bit encryption?"  Tails boasted.  "It'll take the best hackers in the world over an hour to break it."

Rouge smiled.  "That'll work.  What do you want to know?"

Everyone thought for a moment.  Then Tails spoke up.  "How about how Eggman's forces were able to get that deep into Russia undetected.  If I'm right, Russia's developed a radar system that can detect a fart in the wind!"

"That's about right," Rouge answered.  "The Russians are saying that a half hour before the raid, their western early warning radar failed.  An hour after, they reported that everything was back to normal."

Sonic scratched his chin.  "Hmm, maybe Eggman infiltrated the network?"

"Probably."  Tails muttered.

"Okay, second question," Sonic began.  "Do you know where the defense heads were extracted to?"

Rouge shook her head.  "Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact location.  Since it was stormy in Western Russia, our surveillance satellites couldn't get a lock.  Survivors said they saw the dropships extract to the south."

"South, huh?"  Amy grabbed an atlas off of a nearby bookstand.  Flipping it to a map of Russia, she observed.  "Well, to the immediate south of Moscow are two large bodies of water:  the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea."

"And we found out a few months ago that egg carriers have amphibious capabilities," Sonic stated.  "You might want to hint to your people to watch those two areas."

Rouge grinned.  "Trust me, Sonic.  They're covering all bases."

"Any word on a U.S. or Russian response?"  Sonic inquired.

  Rouge shook her head.  "Zilch so far.  You'd think they'd come to you first.  You might want to check out CNN for any updates.  That's all I can tell you."

"Yeah, that is strange," Tails thought.  "It's almost as if they want to keep us out of it."

"But why?"  Knuckles questioned.

"Who knows how this government works."  Sonic commented.  "For all we know, there could be someone behind the scenes who's actually pulling the strings."

Tails shook his head.  "Somebody's been playing too much Metal Gear Solid 2."

"Well, it could happen."  Sonic reasoned.  "But, back to the topic, it looks like our only option for now is to tune into CNN.  Thanks for the info, Rouge.  We'll let you know if we find anything."

"No problem, Sonic.  Signing off.  See ya!"  With that, a disconnection message showed up on screen.  A few seconds later, the screen went back to the desktop.

Sonic sighed.  "Well, that's just it.  We gotta keep it tuned to CNN.  Everyone stays together.  We may have to act on a moment's notice.

"One problem," Tails said.  "'The Strip' doesn't have cable."

"Well, we could go to my place."  Amy suggested.

            "Bad idea," Knuckles started.  "Your place is only a one bedroom apartment.  Ours is three, plus a couch.  Not to mention, me and Sonic already stocked up on food."

            "True," Amy admitted.

            Sonic finished shutting down the computer.  "Alright then, it's settled.  Let's close down 'The Strip', and get back to Miami."  With that, everyone headed out.  While he was helping Tails close the hangar doors, he remarked.  "Well, with CNN, who needs the CIA?"

A/N:  Well, now that took a lot longer to draw up than last time.  Just one more chapter, and I'll be back on schedule.  Once again, leave a review, or e-mail me and let me know I still have an audience here.  Next chapter, the gang watches enough CNN to last three lifetimes.  Peace!


	4. With CNN, who needs the CIA? We do!

A/N:  Hey, peeps!  This is the last of the lost chapters.  As soon as this goes up, I'm back on schedule.  Well, by now, if you read the first three chapters, my character ages have been burnt into your heads.  So, here we go!"

            _Miami, Florida, U.S.A.  Sonic's apartment.  January 25, 2003.  12:14 A.M. EDT._

            Sonic now had a much better appreciation for the CIA.

            Since they got back to his place at around seven o'clock, himself, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy have been doing nothing but watching CNN, looking for some breaking news on the defense heads' abduction.  Sonic figured they'd have to wait a couple of hours to get more news, but after six straight hours, the situation hasn't changed.  They weren't unprepared, though.  The group stopped at the store to stock up on Mountain Dew Code Red, and coffee.  They even went as far as bringing Sonic's coffeemaker into the living room for easy access, cutting on the air conditioning, and of course, they also ordered pizza (Mmm, Code Red, java, and pizza… that can't be good for the system).

            Knuckles shifted his position on the floor, yawning.  "This is more boring than watching my Master Emerald."

            Sonic, who was on the left side of the couch next to Amy, stretched.  "Is that so?  If you wanna go back, that's fine with me.  Means more food for me and Tails."

            Knuckles grinned.  "On second thought, I'll pass.  It's much more interesting here."

            "Damn!"

            "What could possibly happen at this hour?"  Amy asked, sitting between Sonic and an out cold Tails.

            "Nothing over here," Sonic explained.  "But Russia is what, seven or eight hours ahead of us?  Their day's just getting started.  If something new happens, it'll happen over there.  I'm going to get more Code Red.  This could be a very long night."

            _Three hours later…_

            "…And another one bites the dust."  Sonic groaned.  This time, Knuckles got a little too comfortable on the carpet, and had fallen asleep.  Now, the only ones still up were himself, and Amy, who was fading fast.  The situation on Eggman's raid on the Kremlin hadn't changed at all, so that didn't help their cause at all.  Sonic took another swig of his Code Red.  Well, here's another reason for staying up:  you know you gotta make a run for the can, Sonic thought amusingly.  He felt a weight lean on him.  Turning his head, Sonic saw that Amy had finally fallen asleep.  "And then there was one."  He muttered.  He began to gently shove her off of him.  In an unconscious response, Amy wrapped her arms around him.  "Damn!"  Sonic knew the key to staying awake was not getting comfortable, and with Amy's warm, soft body latched on to him, and with just his thin tank top undershirt on, Amy's body heat was quickly making him too comfortable.  Sleep began to overtake him.  "Dammit, Amy.  You could at least have cold hands to keep me awake…" No amount of Mountain Dew Code Red could keep him awake, and he fell asleep, the TV having been left on.  And then there were none.

            _An hour and a half later…_

            Amy awoke with the need to use the toilet.  She got up to do her business, and came back.  "Hmm, Sonic must've left the TV on," she observed.  Glancing at the screen, the end of a scrolling headline caught her eye:  "…attempt has failed."

            "Wait, could that mean…?  It has to!"  She hurriedly began to shake Sonic awake.  The blue hedgehog moaned in protest, but eventually came to.  "What?!"  Sonic asked, annoyed by the fact he was awakened.

            "Sonic, I think something just happened."  Amy answered.

            "What is it?"  He then glanced at the TV.  "Hey, isn't that…?"

            "It's—" Amy stopped when she heard the news correspondent in Moscow talk.  "Quick, wake everyone up!"

            And they did.  Amy woke up Tails (a few gentle shakes), and Sonic woke up Knuckles (a not so gentle kick to the rear).  Knuckles got up swearing, but calmed down when Sonic explained the situation.  "Something finally happened, eh?"  The echidna muttered.

            Sonic shrugged.  "'Parently.  I was asleep, though."

            By now, the camera was back on the front desk.  "Now, once again, an attempted rescue of the Russian FSB Head, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense by the Russian Spetsnaz has failed.  We'll give you more information as it be—" Sonic cut off the TV.

            "So, they've already responded, huh?"  Sonic pondered.

            "Now, what?"  Knuckles asked.

            Sonic thought for a moment.  "That's just it then.  We'll have to get to the bottom of this crisis, and find out why we're still not involved.  Tails, send Rouge an e-mail."

            "What are you planning to do?"  Tails asked.

            "It's time for a house call.  I'm booking us the next flight to D.C.  We might be there for a while, so pack enough close for a night.  And dress warm.  It's supposed to be cold.  We'll meet in the lobby in an hour.  Let's move!"

A/N:  Finally, my remakes are done!  I'm back on schedule.  If you like, leave a review or e-mail me your comments.  The next chapter should be very good.  Peace!


	5. Meeting in DC

A/N:  Just in case you fast-forwarded to this chapter, this is a story inspired by too much Tom Clancy stuff.  The plot so far is that Dr. Robotnik has emerged, and an elite squad of his E-Series bots has captured both the Russian FSB (Federal Security Bureau) Head, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense.  Now, in Miami, Sonic with Amy, Tails, and Knuckles, after hearing the latest news, are sick of being on the sideline, and decide to go to D.C. and meet up with Rouge to get more information on the situation.

Disclaimer:  I don't own shit.  Ludacris owns "Cold Outside"

_Washington D.C., U.S.A.  Rouge's apartment.  January 25, 2003.  7:52 A.M. EDT._

As per her daily routine, Rouge checked her e-mail before she went to work.  Seeing a message from one commanche_156 didn't really surprise her.  It was the message in the body that shocked her.  "What the hell?!  They're coming here?!"  They were probably already airborne, and somewhere over North Carolina by now.  Damn!  How was she going to explain being late for work?  "The agency will understand, right?  I mean, I did help save the world, right?"  After some more mental deliberation, she summed up her choice in two words.  "Fuck it."

            _Washington D.C., U.S.A.  15,000 feet up.   Delta Airlines Flight 102, on approach.  January 25, 2003.  9:08 A.M. EDT._

            "Great, snow."  Tails mumbled from his window seat.  Sonic said it would be cold in D.C., but he didn't expect this.

            The intercom clicked on.  "This is your captain speaking.  We are now on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  The temperature on the ground is a very brisk 12 degrees.  I hope you all packed warm."  That got some collective moans and some "Goddamn"s from the cabin.  "As we are on approach, I would ask everyone to please put their seats upright and their tray tables to their upright and locked position.  Thank you for flying with Delta Airlines."

            "My butt hurts."  Sonic complained from his aisle seat, trying to lift his butt out of his seat to alleviate the discomfort.  It had been a long three-hour flight in coach.  Amy, who sat between Tails and Sonic, was the only one who got some sleep.  Knuckles, who sat on the other side of the aisle, was on alert for the worst-case scenario, which didn't help Sonic keep his nerves.  Tails just looked out the window the entire flight.

            Suddenly, the plane seemed to hit a bump.  That startled Amy out of her sleep.  "What was that?"  She asked, a little weary.

            "Relax, that was just the airbrakes."  Tails explained.  "We're on approach by the way, so stay up."

            _Washington D.C., U.S.A.  Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  Gate C.  January 25, 2003.  9:12 A.M. EDT._

"It's about time we're on the ground."  Knuckles muttered, stretching.  He hated flying on planes; too many variables.

            "There's no use being afraid.  When your number's up, it's up."  Sonic said.

            Knuckles glared.  "Who said anything about being afraid?!  I was just saying—"

            "Forget it.  Let's go find Rouge."

            They had changed into their winter gear in Miami.  Sonic wearing black jeans, and a FUBU sweater under a black leather overcoat.  Tails wearing blue breakaways, and a gray sweater under a Miami Dolphins coat.  Knuckles wore blue jeans, and a Puma sweatshirt over a trench coat.  And Amy wearing jeans, and a turtleneck over a fur-lined coat.  Since they all came from sunny Miami, they felt very weird in these heavy clothes.

            Knuckles got one good look out the window.  Damn, it's looks cold outside.  He started to break into song.  "There ain't no one to trust but me, I gotta make sure that I take care of my family, and there ain't no choices 'cause it's cold outside.  It's cold outside!  And to…"

            Sonic clucked his tongue.  "He would start singing 'Cold Outside.'"

            "Hey guys!"

            The four froze.  Knuckles stopped singing.  That sounded like…

            "Over here!"  The gang looked over some decorative plants to see Rouge, with a denim coat over her regular gear, waving at them.  Sonic and company strode over to her.

            "I didn't think you'd get our e-mail."  Sonic commented.

            Rouge chuckled.  "Have you no faith in your own government?"  She then got a good look at all of them, and frowned.  "What happened to you guys?  None of you got any sleep last night?"  All four had bloodshot eyes, bags under them, and whatnot.  "What were you doing?"

            "Doing your job!"  Knuckles growled.  "Gathering intelligence."  

Sonic nodded.  "From our last chat, to the wee hours of the morning, through sun-up, we've been watching nothing but CNN!"

"Do you know how sleep-depraved that would make anyone?"  Knuckles rubbed his eyes.

Rouge giggled, and reached to ruffle Knuckles dreadlocks playfully.  "Aww, poor baby."  Knuckles blushed, and pulled away.  "Well, since I'm feeling sorry for you all, how about I treat you to Starbucks?"

Everyone brightened up at the first thought of Starbucks.  "Bet!"  Sonic answered.

They sat at a quiet corner table, for security reasons, eating bagels, and drinking Starbucks.  "So, Sonic," Rouge said.  "What is so important, you all had to catch a redeye flight to D.C.?"

Sonic spread some cream cheese on his cinnamon raisin bagel.  "Since you're in the Agency, you should know about the failed Spetsnaz rescue attempt, right?"

She nodded.  "Yep.  It was on the radio on my way here."

"Now, if I'm right, since one of our people is being held captive, our government had to O.K. the attempt by the Russians, right?"

"Yeah.  That makes sense."  Rouge commented, taking a sip of coffee.

"Which means the U.S. has already responded."  Knuckles finished.  "Although indirectly."

"Maybe Eggman's forces were still in Russia?"  Amy queried.  "Maybe that's why we couldn't send our forces."

"But there's one thing that's got me worried," Sonic paused to chew the rest of his bagel and swallow.  "Spetsnaz troops are supposed to be one of the most feared in the world.  How could they fail?"

Rouge shrugged.  "More like they were ordered to abort for some reason, and they said the mission failed to cover up."

"But, that's not the reason we're here."  Sonic said, steering the conversation back on his plotted course.  "I need you to do us a favor."  When Rouge nodded, Sonic continued.  "Arrange us a meeting with the President."

Rouge nearly abandoned their hushed speaking.  "The President?!"  She hissed, incredulous, then calmed down.  "I don't think I can promise that."

"What the hell?!"  Knuckles cut in.  "You're the one who told me you had a direct line of communication with the President while we were being chased through San Francisco!"

"That was just one mission!"  Rouge countered.  "Coming back to your question, Sonic, I can't guarantee a meeting, but I can tell you where he is."

"Where?"

"The Pentagon.  Keep in mind that the guards won't let just anyone in, but they should make an exception with you guys."

"Then, let's get on our way, then."

_Washington D.C., U.S.A.  Pentagon.  January 25, 2003.  10:22 A.M. EDT._

After passing through a military checkpoint and a metal detector, Rouge led Sonic and Gang inside the Pentagon.  They were now talking with the receptionist.  "Listen, it's kinda important that we speak with the President, now!"  Rouge demanded.

The receptionist, who was a female squirrel military MP, insisted.  "I understand, Agent Rouge.  But, the President is in a very important meeting."

"With who?"

The receptionist looked at the schedule on her desk.  "Vice Admiral—"

"Is there something wrong, Agent Rouge?"

Rouge turned to the left, and gasped.  Surrounded by four black suit clad Secret Service Agents, was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces; the President.  "Mr. President.  I thought you were in a—"

"Yes, I was in a meeting.  It was quicker than I expected."

"Well, since you have a little free time, I'd like a word with you, sir."  Sonic requested.  "Alone."  He turned to the rest of his comrades and gave them a reassuring nod.

"Okay.  Very well, then."

Washington D.C., U.S.A.  Pentagon, Conference Room J.  January 25, 2003.  10:31 A.M. EDT.

"Okay, Mr. President."  Sonic sighed, pacing back and forth the room, as if interrogating a prisoner.  "Aside from the stuff I heard off of CNN, what's the situation?"

"As in…" The President led.

"As in why haven't we gone in to get our people back?"

"For intelligence reasons, Mr. Hedgehog.  We want to see what Dr. Robotnik wants to accomplish."

Bullshit, Sonic thought.  "Intelligence?  Well, maybe Eggman's aim in capturing the two defense heads was to torture information out of them, like defense spendings, troop and fleet movements, and…"

"And, if we act too fast, Robotnik might panic, and decide to retaliate.  His egg carriers are nuke-capable."

Sonic discovered that in a recon mission for the CIA a few months ago.  He didn't even think the President himself knew about the mission.  "Well, he may just fire a nuke anyway.  Why not do preemptive strikes?  And what happened to all that bullshit you were spouting about preemptive strikes a few months ago?!"

The Secret Service Agents, who were in the room, made a move towards the hedgehog, but the President waved them back.  "Yes, I haven't forgotten that.  But, you have to realize that Robotnik's forces are not like any of the other regimes that are hostile to us.  He is far stronger than any of them, and fighting his forces will take most, if not all of our military assets, and years to win, not just months.  The American people probably will not support that broad of a war, not unless provoked.  We should be able to work this out diplomatically."

"You're using containment policies against Eggman?!"  Sonic erupted angrily, using a chair as a stepping stool.  "We did the same goddamn thing to Saddam for twelve years, and look where we are now!  Back to the brink of another Gulf War!  And you forgot that Russia has a stake in this too, didn't you?"

"We have to use a policy of containment!"  The President snapped.  "Do you know what could have happened if the Cold War had erupted?  Nuclear proliferation on a very large scale.  It could have destroyed this very planet!"  The President took some deep breaths to calm down.  "Look.  I don't like it any more than you, but we have to err on the side of caution.  This isn't like fighting a ragtag band of terrorists.  Dr. Robotnik is a well-armed enemy.  We cannot act yet.  Any who do will be insubordinate, and will be dealt with as such."

"Goddamn."  Sonic breathed.  After he too calmed down, he spoke again.  "And what of Russia?"  Sonic asked.

"No word on a second strike."

"Eggman hasn't made any demands yet?"

"None."  The President answered.

Sonic sighed in defeat.  "Okay.  That's all.  We'll take our leave."

"That sounded serious."  Amy murmured.  "What could they be talking about?"

Sonic emerged from the room, looking dejected, slamming the door behind him.  "Goddamn!"  He cursed under his breath.

"Whoa, Sonic.  What's wrong?"  Amy asked, coming up to him, only to get gently, but firmly pushed away as he walked past.

"Hey, Sonic?"  Rouge called.

"What happened?"  Tails asked.  Sonic just kept walking.  It wasn't until Knuckles got in his way when Sonic finally addressed the group.

"We're on our own."  He said simply.

"What?  What do you mean?"  Amy asked.

"It means we don't have government backing.  Let's go back to 'The Strip.'  We'll figure something out there."

"Okay, I'm going with you guys."  Rouge said.

As soon as they exited the Pentagon, six men, three anthropod dogs, and three humans, clad in black suits, approached them.  Then another, a bloodhound in an identical suit stepped through.

"B-boss?!"  Rouge gasped.

"Sonic the Hedgehog?"  'Boss' queried.

Sonic stepped forward, tentatively.  "That'll be me."

'Boss' presented a badge.  "Staff Operations Officer Scott Dowell, CIA.  Come with us."

Whoa!  Why was the CIA doing trailing the group?  And what do they want with them?  To find out, keep a look out for the next chapter, coming out in a day or two.  Peace!


	6. This Is A Black Op, People!

A/N: OK, there's something up with this site. For some odd reason, my html files won't upload completely, heck, barely at all. Is anyone having any similar problems? Oh well, at least I can fall back on the good old doc. Format. Enjoy!  
  
McLean, Virginia, U.S.A. Central Intelligence Agency, George Bush Center For Intelligence, Briefing Room G. January 25, 2003. 11:27 A.M. EDT.  
  
This was taking too damn long, Sonic thought.  
  
The five were accosted by members of the CIA, escorted to a waiting car, driven to CIA HQ, deposited in the room they're now in twenty minutes ago, and told somebody will explain the situation. The five sat at a horseshoe- shaped table, with a projector between the walls of it. Sonic, on one side of the horseshoe, had his feet propped up on the table, leaning back in the office chair, sometimes making it creak, with his hands behind his back. Tails, beside him on his left, had his head down. Knuckles, to his left sat with his head held in his hands propped up on his elbows. Amy, on the apex of the horseshoe, nervously drummed her fingers on the table, her nails causing a ticking sound, and Rouge, beside her, sat with her arms folded over her chest.  
  
How much longer were they gonna take, Sonic thought. And the sound of Amy's nails tapping on the table was slowly corroding his nerves. "Will you cut that out, please?" Sonic asked, as polite as someone with only three hours of sleep can.  
  
"Hmm?" Amy glanced at him.  
  
"With your nails," Sonic clarified. "It's starting to aggravate me."  
  
"Why? And stop making your chair squeak. It's getting on my nerves."  
  
"Then you stop first!"  
  
"And if I don't?"  
  
"Then. I'll throw this table at you!"  
  
"Enough!" Knuckles interjected. "Shit!"  
  
"Why's everyone so irritable?" Rouge asked.  
  
"That's a stupid question." Sonic said. "You try going on three hours sleep at most."  
  
Finally, to end all the bickering, three CIA Agents, including Scott Dowell, entered the room. "Sorry to have kept you waiting." He apologized.  
  
"Boss, what the hell is going on?" Rouge inquired.  
  
Sonic sat up. "Yeah, why are we here?"  
  
Dowell chuckled. "I thought you'd already know. We are well aware of your actions the past 20 hours, including your chats."  
  
Tails shot up. "What?! How?! I thought my security protocols were full proof. 128-bit encryption."  
  
Dowell laughed. "Kid, we're the CIA. We're paid to know stuff. We know when you eat, watch TV, go to the bathroom, scratch, go to bed. We even know when you whack off, and whether you're thinking of a man or woman."  
  
"For real?" Sonic asked, sarcastically.  
  
Dowell smirked. "Yep, as a matter of fact, a week ago, you were thinking of a guy!" Everyone laughed but Sonic.  
  
That didn't sit well with Sonic, as bogus as it was. "Motherfu-" Sonic made to kick him in his sternum, but Tails grabbed the back of his shirt.  
  
Dowell just laughed. "I was just fucking with you, man!" A couple more chuckles, and he stopped. "Okay, seriously ladies and gentlemen. I know you all want to this hostage crisis to come to a reasonable resolution. Well here's your chance."  
  
"I thought the President said we couldn't act yet?" Sonic recalled.  
  
"The president will have no knowledge of this." Dowell said. "In fact, only the CIA, and a select few military personnel will know about this operation."  
  
No knowledge? Rouge thought. Then that means. "You're gonna have us black op.?"  
  
Dowell just smirked at his subordinate.  
  
"Sonufabitch," Knuckles muttered. "So, if we do accept, we'll have no official support?"  
  
"You'll have none. Remember the top rule of black ops-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Sonic muttered. "If we're discovered or killed, you'll disavow all knowledge, and everything will be on us. I did a black op. before." Well, it was a black op. that turned out to be a not-so-black op. It was a recon mission in Oceania to pick up data on the schematics and performance of Eggman's new Reaper Air Superiority Fighter.  
  
"Hey, why didn't you tell me you did a black op.?" Amy complained.  
  
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Because nobody was supposed to know!"  
  
"I meant after the fact."  
  
"Oh, because you never asked." He answered dryly, and Amy sighed. "Don't like it? Tough!"  
  
"So, you know your objectives," Dowell said, steering the conversation back. "Do you accept?"  
  
"Give us a minute." The gang got in a huddle in the back of the room. Thirty seconds later, they broke out. "We'll take it."  
  
Dowell looked pleased. "Excellent! Agent Morrison will brief you."  
  
With that, the lights dimmed, and Morrison, a medium sized black guy, turned on the projector displaying a map of western Russia. "Now, we are all aware that after the attack, Dr. Robotnik's forces extracted to the South." The projector panned slightly south. "There were two possible points of escape for those transports: the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea. At 0930 hours this morning, our surveillance satellites detected a small strike egg carrier, which we had been keeping an eye on for some time, designated 'Rakshasa', move from the Black sea, further south to a nautical repair and refuel station in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 4,000 miles south of India." The screen now showed a 3-D picture of the Rakshasa in the top-right corner, and a smaller picture of the Rakshasa make its way to the South Indian Ocean. "Intel indicates that it will take at least twelve hours for the strike carrier to complete repairs. From there, we believe it will take on more fighters, and supplies from a forward re-supply rig 2,500 miles south of Hawaii, before transferring the hostages to one of Robotnik's fleet carriers, before undergoing another tour-of-duty. Our plan calls to stage our strike between re-supply, and transfer.  
  
"You will not be alone on this. SEAL Team 3 will also participate in this mission. However, we believe you will be able to take command of this mission. King Elements' Alpha (Sonic and co.) and Charlie (the SEALs) teams will infiltrate the re-supply base." The projector now shows the horseshoe-looking re-supply base. Your three primary objectives there will be to disable the communications tower. Do not completely destroy it; the enemy will get suspicious. An E-3 Sentry AWACS will assist you by jamming their communications. At most, you will have five minutes after the AWACS goes on-line before the comms tower bypasses our jamming. Second, get on board the Rakshasa. If you get left behind, the mission will be scrubbed (aborted). Once on board, find the brig, free the Heads of Defense, and any others, and extract yourselves. Your insertion and extraction will come from the nuclear attack submarine U.S.S. Los Angeles, based at Pearl Harbor. We cannot paradrop you since there is a wing of Hammerhead multirole fighters based at the facility. You do have one secondary objective, however: destroy the Rakshasa. That ship has been interdicting our trade routes in the Pacific, and giving the Pacific Fleet problems. You'll be doing them a great service if that carrier is taken out.  
  
We have booked all five of you the next available flight to Honolulu. From there, you are to report immediately to Pearl Harbor for insertion. Dismissed." The lights brightened, the projector turned off, and everyone stood up to stretch.  
  
Dowell walked over to Sonic. "Mr. Hedgehog. The ball is in your hands again. Score with it."  
  
"Yessir." Sonic smiled. "Alright people! You heard the man! We ship out immediately!"  
  
A/N: So, finally they get their mission. Question is, how will it pan out? To find out, stay tuned for the next chapters. And don't forget to review, please! Peace! 


	7. The Hunt For The Rakshasa Begins Or Does...

A/N:  Nothing much new.  Kman brought to my attention in a review that Monaco was not a French port.  If you already read this chapter, I had the _Rakshasa_ raid a French port to make the French fleet retaliate against it.  I was looking at a map to pick a random southern port and picked Monaco without looking at the map closely.  It's small, but it's independent.  Heh heh, my bad.  I read the map wrong.  So, Monaco becomes Marseille.  Not anything major to the story, but it's the principle of the whole thing.  Thanks for the heads up, Kman.

Disclaimer:  I own nothing!

            _Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.  Pearl Harbor Naval Station.  January 25, 2003.  3:01 P.M. Hawaiian time._

            To say that the past 20 hours had been exhausting for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy would be an understatement.  They had been forced to gather intelligence from CNN through the wee hours of the morning, abruptly flown to Washington D.C., accosted by the CIA, and finally, sent to Pearl Harbor.

            And only three hours had passed, well, at least for local time.

            Their flight had left at noon EDT, and had taken only eight hours, thanks to the favorable rotation of the Earth.  Their internal clocks are saying the sun should be down, but now it's mid-afternoon.

            The four, plus Rouge, were now in a military Humvee enroute to Pearl Harbor.  "Jet lag's a bitch."  Sonic moaned, the headache he had ruin any chances he had of enjoying the scenery for a bit.

            Rouge was feeling a little better.  "Well, at least we're outta the deep freeze!"  Rouge exclaimed.  Good thing they were all out of their winter gear, too.

            Knuckles snorted.  "If you lived in Miami, it wouldn't be that big of a deal."

            Not even lack of sleep and jet lag could douse Amy's spirits.  She was eagerly looking out of the humvee's window.  "Wow!  Hawaii is so beautiful!  I just wish we had time to look around."  She lamented.

            "We were in Hawaii before, remember?" Sonic muttered.  "Although on unfavorable terms.  Prison Island."  That wasn't exactly the most scenic view of Hawaii, being decked in 'prison pink', escaping from the GUN base, dueling with Shadow, and barely managing to escape the small island with Tails and Amy before it self-destructed.

            "Oh, yeah…"

            "Anyway, I guess as soon as we finish up here, we can look around, I guess…"

            Amy's face lit up.  "Really?!  Oh, I love you, Sonic!"  She hugged him tightly.

            "Get off of me, please."  Sonic said calmly.  "Otherwise I'll take it back."  And Amy immediately let go.

            "…Meanie."

            Sonic was about to retaliate when the Humvee stopped.  They were at the _Los Angeles' _dock.  "Everyone pile out."  The driving Marine ordered.

            They made their way to the waiting sub, when someone called out from behind.  "Sonic the Hedgehog!"  Everyone turned to see a male anthropod seagull officer with big rank insignias running to them, stopping when he reached them.  "I'm Commander James Speigal, captain of the U.S.S. _Los Angeles.  _Our mission has changed somewhat."

            "What do you mean?"  Rouge asked inquisitively.

            "Step into my office, please."

            _Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.  Pearl Harbor Naval Station, Commander Speigal's office.  January 25, 2003.  3:14 P.M. Hawaiian time._

            When they entered the office, six Navy men were already there.  Sonic's first guess was they were from SEAL Team 3.

            "So you're the bunch of jokers who want to end this crisis," one SEAL, a Labrador retriever anthropod said.  "You know, you guys got a lotta balls wanting to black op. like this."

            Sonic grinned.  "Likewise."

            Speigal sat down.  "Alright, down to business, people.  At 0430 hours, our surveillance satellites detected the E.C. (egg carrier) _Rakshasa_ entering the Mediterranean Sea.  There, it raided the southern French port of Marseille, destroying or damaging several freighters, before moving out of the area towards the South Indian Ocean for repairs.  The French responded by ordering their Second Carrier Battle Group, to hunt down and destroy the _Rakshasa_.  The carrier _Bonaparte_ sortied two wings of their Rafale M multirole fighters.  The CIA discovered this, and convinced the French to stand down, but not before inflicting moderate damage to the _Rakshasa_.  It is estimated that it will take an additional sixteen hours to complete repairs to the ship.  Meaning, our deployment will be delayed another four hours.  Until then, you are free to do as you will.  Report to the _Los _Angeles at 1900 hours.  Don't forget to pick up your gear from the armory.  Other than that, you're dismissed."

            _Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.  Pearl Harbor Naval Station, Armory.  Ten minutes later._

            Sonic looked over his new M-4 Assault Rifle.  It had an attached M-203 grenade launcher below the barrel, for extra firepower.  He was also equipped with an HK Mark 23 SOCOM sidearm with the attached laser sight module, five chaff grenades, fifteen grenade rounds, and three frag grenades.   All in all, he was one dangerous hedgehog… even more so, now.

            "Man, I have to take off my gloves to fire this damn thing!"  Knuckles whined.  He selected an M-4 with an attached Master Key shotgun, seven chaff grenades, four frag grenades, and a SOCOM pistol.

            "Heh, sucks to be you, Red!"  Rouge said jokingly.  Going against uniformity, she had a Barrett M-82 .50 caliber sniper rifle as her primary, and an HK MP5 as her secondary.  Everything else was the same.  "Well, now to store our gear in the _Los Angeles._"

            As they walked out of the armory, someone called out.  "Hey, Sonic!"

            Sonic turned around to see Amy leaning on the wall of the armory, seemingly waiting for him.  "Yeah, what's up?"

            The pink hedgehog walked up to him, stopping just a few feet away.  "Um, do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?"  She murmured.

            Sonic glanced back at Knuckles and Rouge, who had stopped to wait for him.  "Hey guys, don't wait up.  I'll catch up."  He turned back to Amy.  "So, what's up?"

            She looked him over, now with his new gray camouflaged BDU (once again, Battle Dress Uniform), assault rifle slung behind his back along with his gear bag.  She smiled.  "Wow, you really do look like a SEAL."

            "Look, if it's about you wanting to come along—"

            She frowned, hands on hips.  "I wasn't even going to try to change your mind!"  She remembered him saying that an E-Series soldier could build a new AK-74U, lock and load a clip, fix a jam, and fire faster than she'd be able to get within range for her hammer.  "But even you have to admit that I can be of some use for this mission.  Remember, I'm the only one who's actually been inside the guts of an egg carrier.  So, the commanding officer in charge of this operation is letting me put a camera on you."

            Sonic shrugged.  "Okaaaay.  Something tells me that's not all you wanted."

            Amy giggled.  "Busted.  Um, I was wondering if um… since we have a few hours before the mission starts, if you and I could hang out together?"  She looked up at him hopefully.  "Please?"

            Hang out together?  The wheels were turning in Sonic's head.  Wouldn't this be called a date?  He made that thought audible.  "Wouldn't this be a date?"

            "Call it what you want to.  All I'm asking for is a little company to go sightseeing with."

            Sonic looked at his digital naval watch.  1532 hours (3:32 P.M), it read.  "I don't think we'll have enough time to do much—"

            "Oh, come on Sonic!  Just this once?"  She looked at him pleadingly through her eyelashes, her lips in a slight pout.

            That made Sonic freeze.  Saying no to her in the past was a lot easier, but he just couldn't find the willpower to.  He had to admit that after Perfect Chaos, and ARK, she had matured a lot.  This might not be so bad.  So, steeling his nerves, he closed his eyes, and breathed in.  "Fine.  You win."

            Acting on impulse, Amy whooped in celebration, hugging the blue hedgehog.  "Oh, thank you!  Thank you!  Thank—"

            "Calm down and let go of me, or I'll change my mind."

            Amy immediately quieted and released him, then poked him in his ribs, making him yelp and jump.  "Meanie."

            Sonic smirked.  "You'd think that with an assault rifle, grenade launcher, and loads more, I'd have a right to be mean for any reason.  Anyways, before we go, I gotta stow my gear.  Give me a minute."  With that, he jogged to the docked submarine, leaving Amy to wait outside.

            _Honolulu, Hawaii.  Pearl Harbor Naval Station.  U.S.S. Los Angeles, Break Room.  Same time._

            SEAL Team 3, along with Rouge, Knuckles, and Tails sat around a table.  The SEALs were a little disappointed that their mission was delayed.  "Y'know, I wonder why we don't just disembark now.  I mean, what else can happen?"

            "We could have another change in our mission, Vasquez."  Rouge answered the Hispanic.

            "Like what?"  Collins, a wolf anthropod challenged.

            Rouge thought for a moment.  "Well… um, I don't know.  Something none of us can think of!"

            "Whatever, chica."  Vasquez said.

            A beat, then Profile, a Caucasian SEAL, spoke up.  "What I'm not getting is why the kid's coming with us."

            "Hey, I have a lot more experience fighting Eggman than every SEAL here put together!"  Tails defended himself.

            "We know that, kid.  Profile probably meant what you're doing on this mission?"  Barnes, an African American SEAL said.

            "He's our gear-head, Barnes."  Everyone turned to the doorjamb to see Sonic, who had already stowed his gear.  "He's supposed to be bringing that comms. tower on that re-supply rig offline for us.  Not to mention, he's probably the only one here who can get us past any security lockouts on the _Rakshasa._"  At that, various mutters and murmurs of reluctant agreement filled the room.  "Anyway, Knux, Rouge, Tails, any of you going anywhere?"

            Knuckles and Rouge just shrugged.  Tails nodded.  "I think I'm going go over to Hickam Air Force Base and watch the aircraft."  Tails paused.  "Why?  Where are you going?"

            Sonic shrugged.  "Nowhere special."

            Knuckles clucked his tongue.  "Then where's Amy at?  I thought you and her talked."  Sonic didn't answer.  Knuckles smirked.  "Did she actually convince you to go on—"

            "It ain't a date!"  Sonic shouted.  "It's just a couple of hours of downtime together, that's all."

            Rouge chuckled.  "Call it what you want, Sonic.  In the end, it all boils down to a date."

            "Shut up!"  Sonic snapped, walking down the hall.  "I'm outta here.  See y'all at 1900 hours!"

            The whole room chuckled.  "The guy's twenty, and he's still a little shy about his feelings for Amy."  Tails commented.  "You'd think that from over the years of Amy chasing him, she would have'em by now."

            "It's because I'm a fighter, not a lover!!"

            Tails blinked.  He heard that?  Anyway, he had some plans of his own.  "I'm off to Hickam.  See ya back here."  With that, he headed towards the exit.

            That left Rouge and Knuckles with some of the SEALs.  "Hmm, wandering around might not be so bad after all."  The bat commented, and got up to leave the room.

            Knuckles raised an eyebrow.  "Where are you going?"  He asked inquisitively.

            Rouge smirked.  "And why do you care?"  She answered slyly.

            The echidna shook his head profusely.  "N-n-no reason."  He stuttered.

            Rouge smiled to herself.  He was cute when he lied to himself.  "You wanna come with me, Red?"  Before Knuckles could answer, she pulled him out of his chair, tugging him toward the exit with some resistance from his part.  "C'mon!  It'll be fun.  Besides, you of all people need to loosen up!"

            "Hey… Rouge!  Wait… Oh never mind."  Knuckles eventually gave up and let himself be pulled along.

            _Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.  Waikiki Beach.  6:27 P.M. EDT.  January 25, 2003._

            "No offense, Ames, but of all places, the beach?!"  Sonic questioned.  "Y'know there's a perfectly good beach twenty minutes away at home called Miami Beach.  They're all the same!"

            "They're not all the same," Amy chuckled.  "It's a lot less humid here, and the trade winds feel perfect."  The two were walking along the beach, just out of range of the waves.  Amy had kicked off her boots and socks and was walking barefoot in the wet sand.  They had already taken a look at Diamondhead; or rather Sonic carried Amy and ran up Diamondhead to save some time.

            This 'date', for lack of a better word isn't so bad after all, Sonic thought.  As a matter of fact, it was turning out to be pretty good.  After Diamondhead, they had gotten a bite to eat at an outdoor restaurant, and then walked down to the beach.  Still, Sonic couldn't get over Amy's apparent newfound maturity.  A year or two ago, she would have been all over him, well… periodically, she still does that, but not nearly as bad.

            He also started to think about this mission, codenamed Operation Blackbeard.  He had never thought about any mission this heavily before.  This could very well be his final mission.  He never thought of that, mostly because he never had time to think about things like that.  All of his battles were spur of the moment; he never had a choice, it was do or die.  This is the first time he's ever had the chance to think like this.  He guessed he was thinking too much because he felt Amy's hand on his shoulder.

            "What's on your mind, Sonic?"  Amy asked.

            Sonic shrugged, dismissing his thoughts.  "Nothing important."

            "Oh?"  Amy circled in front of him, hands on her hips.  "You've been thinking about 'nothing' for the past five minutes?  I think not!  So, what's got your mind so occupied?"

            He shrugged again, and then sighed.  "I don't know.  Everything and nothing, I guess."  Amy looked at him expecting him to continue.  Sonic sighed again.  "Normally, I don't even get a chance to think before a mission, since we don't get a say in accepting them, or is there this much of a delay.  You know, this is war.  Meaning, some of us, even I could die."  He shook his head, laughing a little.  "Heh, what am I saying?  We've been in too many battles to die in a rescue attempt."

            Amy frowned.  "So, that's what's bothering you?  You actually having time to think?"  She knew he had a history of doing something before thinking about the repercussions to follow.  Apparently, this was a case.  "To tell you the truth, I think about it all the time.  The thing is, I don't dwell on it."

            Damn!  When did she grow up?  Sonic eyed her for a moment, and grinned.  "Y'know, since ARK, you've matured a lot.  You're no longer the girl I saved way back when.  Just want you to know that."

            Amy giggled.  "Oh, wow!  Sonic finally gave me a compliment!  I have to be wearing you down!"  She sidled up to him, looking deep into his eyes.  "Y'know, I never did thank you properly for saving my life so many times."

            Sonic scratched the back of his head, trying to play it off.  "Pshhhhhh!  It was all in a day's work."  He felt the pink hedgehog creep closer, but decided to stand his ground.  Now, their faces were inches apart.

            "And I distinctly remember you losing a game of Halo with a kiss on the line…" Amy continued.  Last time, Sonic skirted at the last moment with Tails' intervention.

            Goddamn!  That hit home, and Sonic backed away a step, holding his head.

            Amy frowned.  "What's wrong?  You still have a phobia of kissing me?"

            Sonic did a double take.  "Hell naw!  It was the reminder of me losing at my own game that set me off!"  He took a deep breath, and proclaimed boldly.  "I have absolutely no issues about kissing you!"

            "Oh yeah?  Then prove it!"  Amy challenged.

            Without even thinking, Sonic closed the gap between them, and gave her a brief kiss on the lips… 

… Then the proverbial sledgehammer fell.  Both Sonic and Amy were left with a 'deer caught in headlights' look on their faces.  Sonic because of the fact that he threw all caution to the wind again not thinking of the consequences, and Amy because he actually did it, even just for a split second.

Amy was the first to recover, and she smiled coyly.  "Is that the best you got?"

"Heh, not even close."  Once again, their lips met.  This time, longer, more sensual… And the sledge fell again.  Damn, she got me, Sonic thought.  But then again, is that really a bad thing?

When Sonic recovered from the second kiss, he happened to glance at his watch.  1843 hours, it read.  "Damn!  It's quarter till seven, now!  Amy, get on my back!"

"Crud!  Can we still make it?"  She asked, getting on.

Sonic smirked.  "Heh!  There's a reason why I hold all land speed records.  If we're lucky, I can get us back in five minutes."  With that, he started, gradually building up a head of steam to a full sprint back to Pearl Harbor.

Honolulu, Hawaii.  Pearl Harbor Naval Station, Middle Loch, just outside the U.S.S. Los Angeles.  January 25, 2003.  6:58 P.M. EDT.

"Where the hell are Hedgehog and Rose?!"  Commander Speigal shouted.  Everyone was accounted for, except for Sonic and Amy.

"Relax, sir.  They'll be here."  Tails reassured.  He looked to the water behind Speigal to see something approaching on the water, and kicking up a lot of it.  "That's gotta be them!"

"Well, there's the _Los Angeles_, still at dock._"_  Sonic observed.  "At least we weren't left behind."  Sonic had picked up enough speed to skim the surface of the water, and Amy was hanging on for dear life.  He maneuvered to where the water and land transitioned smoothly, ran there, then came to a stop to where Speigal was waiting.  "Heh, reporting for duty, sir?"  He said jokingly, and added a mock salute.

Speigal rolled his eyes.  "Get your asses down in that ship before I decide to leave you."  Without further encouragement, Sonic, Amy, and Tails climbed into the submarine.

U.S.S. Los Angeles, Lounge.  Same time.

"I hate poker…" Knuckles muttered.  He and Rouge were playing strip poker with SEAL Team 3, and most of the crew of the _Los Angeles_ watching, hoping that Rouge would lose.  And for the most part, Knuckles was losing.  Rouge was down to her tank top and pants, and Knuckles now had only a pair of white boxers protecting his modesty.

Rouge grinned.  "Ok, Red.  To make things more interesting, how's this?  If I lose the next hand… I'll show it all.  But, if you lose," her smile got wider.  "I get to see 100% naked echidna!"

He just might get out of this with his modesty.  "Alright, bat-girl!  Deal'em!"  Rouge dealt out the cards.  Knuckles threw away three cards, then drew.  "C'mon.  Just this once, give me what I need… yes!"  He now had two pair:  kings and twos, and he slammed his hand down with authority.  "Bam!  Whatcha got?!  Huh?!"

Rouge calmly drew two, saw what she got, and kept her poker face.  "Oooh, nice hand there, Red.  I think you might actually have me."

Knuckles stood up, leaning over the table.  "I know I have you!  Show your hand!  Show it!"

Rouge kept teasing him.  "You really want me to strip, don't you Red?"

"Quit stalling and show it!"

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah!"

Rouge finally calmly showed her hand, and Knuckles jaw dropped to the table.  "Three fours, hon." The entire room was filled with "Ohhh!'s" and "Damn!'s".  Rouge smiled wickedly.  "You know what that means, don't you?" Now, you show it!"

Knuckles backed away, holding his hands out in protest.  "Now wait a min—"

"A deal's a deal, Knux!"  Rouge approached him.  "So, whatever you won't show, I'll uncover myself."  She grabbed for his boxers, but Knuckles grabbed her hands before she could reach them.

"Commander!"  Barnes shouted.  Knuckles and Rouge froze.

Speigal walked in with Sonic, Amy, and Tails not far behind.  "What the hell?"  Speigal muttered.

Sonic shook his head.  "Oh, I coulda told you Knuckles sucks in poker, Rouge."

"Shut up!"  The echidna retorted, scrambling to put on his BDU.

"I'm here to tell you jokers that we're underway immediately.  Our ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) is approximately twelve hours.  I advise everyone to report to their bunks if you haven't already.  Also, you may notice that the opposite sex is aboard this submarine.  Protocol still doesn't allow females to serve aboard submarines, last I checked.  Don't get any ideas."  (A/N:  It's true!  I checked into it on a special on TLC)

"Why can't us women serve on submarines?"  Amy asked, almost offended.

"No offense, Ames, but think about it," Sonic began.  "About a crew of about 140 men deployed in an airtight crate for three months at a time at the bottom of the ocean.  Now, throw in about five females, and watch the pent up hormones fly!"

"More or less."  Speigal said.  He then spoke into a comm. link on the wall.  "Commander Speigal to helm."

"This is First Officer Negase, orders?"

"Set engines to full power.  We're deploying."

A/N:  Whew!  That was long.  I just had to get the rest of the downtime chapters out of the way.  I'm just as eager for the action to start as you are.  If you want, leave a review.  The action starts next chapter.  Peace!


	8. Operation Blackbeard Begins, Finally!

A/N:  Your favorite neighborhood author here.  Yep, the chapter everyone's been waiting for:  the beginning of Operation Blackbeard, and the rescue of the Russian FSB head and the U.S. Secretary of Defense.  But first, the group has to accomplish two objectives:  disabling the comms tower on the rig, and actually getting aboard the _Rakshasa.  _Can they do it?  Read to find out.  BTW, thanks for the heads-up, Kman.  I just revised that chapter with the necessary correction.

Disclaimer:  I own nothing!

            _Pacific Ocean.  U.S.S. Los Angeles, Crew's Quarters.  January 26, 2003.  0515 hours, Hawaiian time._

            "Alright, listen up, people!"  Sonic began.  Everyone, except for Speigal, Amy, and the regular crew was now crowded around a surveillance photo of the re-supply rig.  "Chances are, we'll be inserting on the east strut of this rig after a brief swim.  If I'm not looking at this photo wrong, that comms tower is on the southern part of the east strut.  Like I said earlier, Tails'll be responsible for bringing that offline."

            "So how do we get aboard that carrier, oh fearless leader?"  Vasquez asked sarcastically.

            "Right.  Intel suggests that this rig acts like a vice, widening and narrowing the space between struts depending on the size of the docking carrier.  So, a carrier lands, the struts do what they need to do, connecting bridges open, and we find a way in via the cargo bays.  Also, we need to watch out for snipers.  It looks like there are two sniper towers on each strut.  Rouge, take care of those snipers; nobody wants to go home with their skull ventilated.  Another point of notice is there's a helipad with at least one dropship on it on the west strut.  Those things are armed with a chain gun, and rockets.  Rouge, you're on double duty.  Make sure nothing gets into that dropship.  Everyone else I didn't mention, just do a clean sweep of the area.  That's all for now."

            "Hey!  Hold on, people!"  Vasquez opened up a handheld metal case he'd been holding.  Inside, were enough cigars for the whole group.  "Remember, only when the fat lady sings."

            Sonic took one, held it up to his nose, and breathed in its scent.  He arched an eyebrow.  "It's Cuban… you're a good man, Vasquez.  Just be sure to stay alive so I can smoke this with you."  With that, he stashed the cigar in the breast pocket of his BDU.

            "How the hell did you smuggle that contraband on this crate?"  Rouge asked.

            Vasquez smirked.  "I have my methods…"

            "Probably had the case up his ass."  Collins commented.

            Vasquez rolled his eyes.  "Anyway, stash'em before Speigal sees'em, otherwise he'll have our asses."

            Commander Speigal's voice cut onto the intercom system.  "Speigal here.  Estimated time of arrival now is three hours.  At this rate, you'll be inserted just ahead of the _Rakshasa._  I'd say you'd have about fifteen minutes after you reach the rig to prepare for its arrival.  Speigal out."

            Sonic shrugged.  "Oh, well.  I'm not exactly a big fan of waiting on things.  It's time for doughnuts and coffee."  With that, he made his way towards the lounge.

            _Break room, couple of minutes later._

            When Sonic arrived, Amy was already there, her back to him.  His thoughts immediately strayed to yesterday.  That kiss… to hell with it!  Just write it off!  It just happened!  Spur of the moment!  What could possibly evolve from just one innocent kiss?  It wasn't like they slept together, right?

            She must have heard him come in because she turned around to face him.  "Good morning."  She smiled cheerily.

            "'Morning."  He muttered, and went straight for the coffee maker.  Mornings were never good to him.

            "I guess you didn't get much sleep?"  She asked.

            "Nope.  Didn't plan on it either."  After figuratively putting in more sugar than coffee into his mug, and two doughnuts on his tray, he sat down across from her.  "This whole time, I've been looking at those surveillance photos of the rig."

            "Still worried?"

            Sonic shrugged.  "Not as much.  We'll be alright."  Without another word, they finished their breakfast, occasionally glancing at each other.

            Sonic stood up, stretching.  "Well, three hours till Operation Blackbeard starts…" He paused when he heard Barnes's voice down the hall.

            "Listen, we're the toughest sons-of-bitches in the world.  Dr. Robotnik's drones don't have shit on us!  When we get there, we'll rip their heads off, shit down their necks, and afterwards, drinks are on me!"  Various mutters of "amen to that" and "oh, hell yeah" could be heard.

            Sonic chuckled.  "Yep.  I'll gladly drink to that."

            Amy eyed him, a slight smile on her lips.  "And how can you since you're not even 21?"

            "Pshhhhhh!  Oh, come on!  I got less than 24 hour—aww, damn!"  Fatal error, Sonic thought.  He'd never let anyone but Tails know when his birthday was, out of fear of being overly embarrassed.  Everyone else was a little surprised when all of a sudden, Sonic just gets one year older out of the blue.  Well, he just compromised his own secret.

            Amy stood up, approaching him with hands on her hips.  "Your birthday's tomorrow?!  And in all the year we've known each other, you never told me?!"  An evil smile crept over her face, and Sonic backed away nervously, knowing what was coming.

            "Hey, no offense—AHH!"  He yelped when Amy began poking his ribs and stomach.  She knew he was more than a little ticklish.  "Hey—AHH!  Stop—haha!  Cut it out—hehe!"  Giggling, he backed away blindly towards the doorjamb to avoid her tickling, then he felt his arms being forced over his head.  Rouge had snuck up behind him, and had him in a full nelson.  "What the—oh, hell!  Amyhehehehehehe stahahahahap!!!!!!!!"  Sonic's laughter was now hysterical as Amy mercilessly tickled his stomach, ribs, and armpits.  He tried to power out of Rouge's hold, but Amy's tickling was completely undoing him.  His knees buckled and he fell to heap.  Rouge held his arms over his head, and Amy sat on his thighs, still tickling. 

            "Now, Mr. Hedgehog.  Say you're sorry for keeping your birthday a secret, and I'll stop."

            The only thing Sonic could do besides laugh hysterically was shake his head in defiance.  She wasn't getting anything out of him.

            Amy giggled.  "So be it.  We do have another three hours left, right?"  With that, she stepped up her efforts on his belly.

            "HELP MEHEHEHEHE!!!!!!!!!!!"  Was all Sonic could get out.  

Eventually, Knuckles came in to see what's up.  Upon seeing the spectacle, he clucked his tongue.  "I can't believe you kicked my ass back then.  How can you let them gang up on you like this?"

"Hahaha fuck youhahaha!"  Sonic still found the coherence to curse the echidna out.

Knuckles shrugged.  "Fine.  I was coming to help you, but if you want to be that way... may the gods be with you then."  With a grin, he walked back out.

Which was the lesser evil, kissing Knuckles' ass for help, or giving in to Amy?   With his mind slowly turning to mush because of Amy's tickling, he thought it best to salvage the rest of his sanity first.  "Ok!  Hahaha!  I give!  I'm sorry!  Hahahaha!"

Amy laughed, and stopped, letting Sonic giggle himself breathless.  "There, that wasn't so hard, now was it?"  She asked, getting off of him.

"Wh—wh—whatever.  Rouge, you're dirty for blindsiding me."  He panted, and Rouge let him go.  He immediately wanted to go after Knuckles.  "I'm about to kick his ass for leaving me for dead!"  With that, he got up and bolted down the corridor.

Rouge and Amy laughed.  "Sonic just let slip that his birthday is tomorrow… and I've known him for years!"  Amy told the bat.

"Oh."  She smirked.  "Well deserved."

Pacific Ocean.  U.S.S. Los Angeles.  Ready Room.  January 26, 2003.  0800 hours.  Five minutes until insertion.

"Where's my damn wet gear?!"  Profile yelled.  A second later, someone tossed it to him.

In a corner of the room, Sonic and co. were prepping for combat.  All of their ammo and radio equipment was underneath their wetsuits to protect against the water.  Sonic's cigar especially.  "Remember, Eggman designed his E-series bots with the same critical points as a human or anthropod.  Aim for the head or body."  Sonic advised.  "Tails, stick close to me.  You're unarmed, so you'll be vulnerable.  Knuckles, I want you to support Rouge.  With that sniper rifle, she'll be depending on you for close up support."

"Got it."  Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge said in unison.

"Oh, I almost forgot."  Amy said and grabbed something on the bench behind her.  "Your camera, Sonic."  The camera unit was as small as a laser pointer, attached to a small headset.  "Now, I'll see what you see, and we both have a secure line of communication between us."

"Okay.  I hope this thing's waterproof."  Sonic said.

"Don't worry.  It is."

"Good to know.  Is everyone set?"

Knuckles shrugged.  "Well, as ready as we'll ever be."

"Then, let's move to the bottom hatch."  Sonic was about to leave, when Amy stopped him.

"Hey, when we get back, how about I help you celebrate your birthday by fixing a special dinner at my place?"  She asked with a small, hopeful smile.

Sonic blushed, smiling.  "Heh, wouldn't miss it for the world.  What are you making?"

Amy grinned.  "We'll see."  She then hugged the SCUBA gear clad hedgehog, breaking it a few seconds later.  "Please, come back alive."

"No worries here.  Gotta go!"  With that, he wadded in his flippers to the bottom hatch.

"Good luck!"

U.S.S. Los Angeles, bottom hatch.  Three minutes later.

"We just received word that the AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control Systems) is in position.  All you need to do is radio them when you want to bring it online."  Speigal said, addressing the group.  "That is all.  Good luck, and good hunting!"

"All right, people!  It's time to rock n' roll!"  With that, Alpha and Charlie Teams jumped through the hatch to begin the swim to the rig.

Pacific Ocean.  Coordinates: 5N-161W.  Dr. Robotnik's Pacific Forward Re-supply Rig.  January 26, 2003.  0814 hours.

Being the quickest swimmer, Knuckles surfaced first next to an empty boat dock.  He quickly climbed on, readying his assault rifle to make sure the area was clear, then discarded his wet gear so that he was down to his BDU and immediately crouched for cover.  Rouge surfaced next, then Tails, and then Sonic, with SEAL Team 3 not far behind, all of them stripping off their wet gear and crouching.

"Looks like we're clear."  Knuckles whispered.

"Everyone lock and load.  I'm about to signal the AWACS."  Sonic whispered and reached for his radio and flipped it on.  "AWACS, this is Alpha 1.  Bring the AWACS online.  Over."

A beat.  "10-4, Alpha 1.  This is AWACS support, callsign Bright Eyes.  We're bringing the AWACS online.  You have five minutes to disable the comms tower.  Good luck."  Click.

Sonic replaced his radio.  "Okay, let's move.  Tails, stick with me.  Knuckles, support Rouge.  Charlie Team, provide cover fire.  Let's move!"  With that, Sonic led the group up the steps to the top of the rig, rifles at the ready.  Once topside, there were two E-series soldiers on patrol coming right at them.  "Oh, shit!"

"Intruder alert!"

Sonic switched off his safety to burst fire, and fired a burst immediately at the incoming sentry to the right, piercing its exoskeleton, and severing some critical circuits.  Knuckles dealt with the one on the left with a single shot to the head.  Both were left in a sparking heap.  "Whew!  I think we still have our cover."  A klaxon went off.  "Maybe not.  Everyone, get up here and find some cover!"  With that, Sonic ran to a group of cargo containers, and crouched, with the rest of the group not far behind.  The snipers were now on alert, and were now attempting to snipe at the group with their SV-98 (Russian made) sniper rifles.  Meanwhile, sentries were on approach to the group's position.  "Okay, I think we're close enough that we can deal with the snipers with regular rifles.  Rouge, find some cover where you can take out the snipers on the other side of this rig—oh, shit!"

Four E-series bots were using their jetpacks to cross the water to the east strut.  "Target acquired."   With that, they opened fire with their AK-74Us.

"Get your heads down!"  Profile yelled as the tracers filled the air dangerously close to the group.

"Their too far out to be accurate."  Barnes observed.  "Hey, Bat!  Snipe'em!"

"My pleasure!"  Even under heavy enemy fire, Rouge calmly readied her sniper rifle, took aim, and fired.  The .50 caliber round hit its mark, easily puncturing the jet pack of one, making it explode.  She took aim at another and fired, this time scoring a headshot, and she dispatched of the others in a similar manner.

"Shit!  We got charlies (enemy soldiers) closing in at our left flank!"  Sonic yelled.  He was just pointing the barrel of his rifle around the corner to the left flank and firing off a burst.  "Damn!  I'm gonna have to use one of these!"  He took out a chaff grenade, and pulled the pin.  "Chaff out!"  He let it roll on the catwalk toward the bots.  The grenade went off, dispensing its electronic interfering chaff, scrambling the sentries' circuits, along with all radio equipment.  Sonic leaned around the corner.  The incoming sentries were disabled.  Switching to semi-automatic fire, he finished off all four with a headshot each.  "Wait a second.  Did that sniper get caught in it too?"  He looked up.  The sniper in the tower was acting sporadically.  "Yep."  A couple of shots to it shut it down.

"Hey, Sonic!  We got about three minutes before that comms tower bypasses our jamming!"  Collins warned.

"Damn!"  Sonic cursed.  More enemy fire came from the right flank, one round almost taking his head off.  He scrambled behind the crate in front of the right flank and ducking, pointed his rifle around the corner to fire a few rounds, hoping he'd hit something.  "Damn!  This ain't working!  Vasquez, I need a little help here!"

Vasquez crept along the crates to Sonic.  "Sir?"

"Find another position to fire at this flank.  Move!"

"Yes sir!"  With that, Vasquez moved along the crates.  He found a small niche between crates, small enough so that only the barrel of his M4 could fit and maneuver.  "Take this, mothafuckas!"  He fired a three round burst, destroying the lead bot.  Vasquez swore when the other two returned fire to his position, and he took cover.

Sonic loaded a grenade round into his grenade launcher.  "Fire for effect!"  He pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher, and smoldering bits and pieces of the E-series bots were thrown everywhere.  Heh!  That's why I'm called the 187man."  Sonic gloated to himself.  "Hey Rouge!  How's that southern sniper?!  Is it still alive?!"  He yelled over the gunfire.

"Negative!  It's clear!"

            "Outstanding!  Tails, get over here!  Knuckles, you too!"  Tails, who was huddled in a niche, and Knuckles, who was assisting Charlie Team ducked over to him.

            "What's up?"  Knuckles asked.

            "Sonic!  A minute and a half until that comms tower bypasses our jamming!  Get moving!"  Barnes prompted.

            "I know!"  Sonic turned to address Tails and Knuckles.  "Listen up, we're going to make a mad dash to that comms tower.  Tails, you're going in behind us while we do a clean sweep.

            "Right!"  The fox acknowledged.

            "Rouge, Charlie Team!  Give us some cover fire!  We're going for the comms tower!"  Sonic ordered.

            "No problem, boss.  We'll kill anything that shoots at you!"  Collins answered.

            "Alright, guys.  Just run without thinking.  On three… one… two… three!"  With that, the three made a mad dash for the comms tower, amid a hail of tracers, most of them missing badly, due to the difficulty of leading a target going as fast as them, even for computers.  Sonic made no never mind whether the tracers were thirty feet away, or three inches away.

            "Cover fire!"  SEAL Team 3 now had some liberty and were no longer pinned down, now that most of the fire was concentrated on Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.  Rouge was now picking off targets at will, dropping them from more than 600 meters out.

            Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stopped just outside the comms shack behind a protecting stack of crates.  The radio clicked on.  "All King Elements, be advised.  You now have less than a minute before the comms tower bypasses our jamming."  The AWACS said.  

Sonic jiggled the knob.  It was unlocked.  "Alright, here we go!"  Readying his SOCOM handgun, he kicked the door open.  There were three E-series bots manning the radio units.  Knuckles easily dispatched them with his attached shotgun.  There was another level to the tower.  "Tails, get to work on the panels here.  Knuckles, cover him here.  I'll complete the clean sweep."  With that, he went upstairs.

            "Twenty seconds until the comms tower bypasses our jamming!"  The AWACS shouted.  Tails looked frantically at the instruments.  How do you shut this thing down?!

            "Ten… nine… eight… seven…" There was nothing upstairs… except a small generator.  Shutting it down was not a job for an amateur.  "Tails!  Up here!  A generator!"  He shouted.

            "Here I come!"

            "Six… five… four… three… two…" 

            "Fuck it!  There's no time!"  With that, Sonic fired a couple of rounds at the panel, short-circuiting it in a spectacular show of sparks and the lights in the shack as well with the rest of the equipment went off.  He switched on his "King six, this is alpha one.  Objective neutralized."

            "Nice work, people."  Speigal said over the radio.  "All units, be advised.  The _Rakshasa_ is closing in on the rig.  ETA:  three minutes."

            Another signal came over the radio.  "Any allied aircraft!  Any allied aircraft!  This is Bright Eyes!  Enemy fighters have engaged us.  We cannot outmaneuver!  Goddammit!  They've spiked us (attained missile lock)!" A loud explosion was heard.  "Mayday!  Mayday!  We're going down!  We're going down—"  and static fell over the frequency.

            Sonic was crestfallen.  "No!  They tagged the AWACS!"

            "Sonic, Tails, Knuckles!  We now have a visual on the _Rakshasa_!"  Rouge's voice announced over the radio.  It also sounded like she was running…

            Sonic flipped on his own radio.  "Acknowledged.  All units maintain your position."  He heard a door open.  "What the…"  

Rouge had entered the comms tower.  "Oh, good.  You guys are still okay."

"What the hell are you doing here?!  I thought I told you to hold your position!"  Sonic yelled from the top of the tower.

"I was already on my way here, so I couldn't just stop in the open!  I want to keep my head intact after all."  Rouge retorted.

"Never mind," Knuckles said.  "Anyways, we could use an extra gun for the clean sweep—"

"Already taken care of."  Rouge smiled smugly.

Sonic bound down the steps.  "Good.  Saves us some trouble."

The radio cut in again.  This time, Vasquez was on the other end.  "Hey Alpha, that klaxon's still going off.  Maybe we should get around to disabling that, huh?  Otherwise this'll get harder."

Oh, yeah, the klaxon!  It was still blaring as loud as can be outside the comms tower.

"Wait a second," Rouge said, looking out the window.  "I think I see the guard station on the west strut."  She peered into her binoculars.  "And I think I see the klaxon switch on the wall."  She readied her sniper rifle and took aim, holding her breath to prevent shaking.  "Got a clear shot… everyone, cover your ears, I'm taking it!" (A/N:  The sound of a Barrett M-82 .50 caliber sniper rifle going off is LOUD.  Trust me, it's not something you'd want to take on covert ops.)  She pulled the trigger.  The shot was spot on.  It destroyed the klaxon panel, and it fell silent throughout the rig.  

In the distance, a loud rumbling could be heard.  The four were about to look through the southern window, but Collins' voice cut into the radio.  "Look sharp!  The _Rakshasa_ is on docking approach!"

A few seconds later, the rumbling was loud enough to make the comms tower shake.  The four looked out the window to see that the _Rakshasa_ was directly overhead.  "Let's go!"  Sonic shouted over the rumbling.

"Where to?!"  Knuckles yelled.

Sonic shrugged.  "I don't know!  The west strut!  Move!"  With that, the four exited the comms tower, and ran across the narrow connecting bridge to the west strut.

The small strike carrier landed a few minutes later, and its engines shut down.  Then the sound of the two struts closing in on the Rakshasa could be heard.  Profile went to his radio.  "Alpha Team, this is Profile.  What's your position, over?"

A moment later, Knuckles' voice came from the other side.  "This is Alpha Team.  We're on the west strut."

"What the hell?!  What are you guys doing over there?!"

Sonic's voice answered this time.  "I just got a message from Amy.  She says that there's probably a shortcut to the ship's atrium from the deck's port (left) side, which is just a small walk away from the brig.  We're checking it out.  Maintain your position until we respond.  Over."

"10-4."

On the west strut… 

"Amy, you're sure this is where it's supposed to be?"  Sonic asked through his headset's secure channel.  There was no landing to be found.

"I'm positive.  When I went to the ruins of the first egg carrier, there was a boat landing on the left side of the ship."  Amy answered.

"Hmm.  Apparently, it ain't there.  I guess Eggman doesn't make'em like he used to.  Oh, well.  We'll have to use our original plan and insert through the cargo holds."

"I'm sorry."  Amy apologized.

"No problem.  Cut transmission."  Sonic went for his radio.  "Charlie Team, this is Sonic of Alpha Team.  Apparently, Amy's intelligence about the egg carrier was a little outdated.  Proceed with the original plan of insertion."

"10-4.  The cargo bays are open.  We're going in."  Vasquez said on the other end.

Sonic looked towards the aft of the ship.  There was another cargo hold opening.  "Charlie Team, listen up.  We'll be inserting on the other side of the ship.  Once onboard, we'll try to rendezvous with you.  Cut transmission."

"10-4."  Click.

"Let's move, people.  We don't want to miss our boat."  With that, the four moved towards the open cargo bay.  Peering around the corner of a cargo container, Sonic saw no guards present, just peon class bots.  Hmm, we must still have the element of surprise, he thought.  "No guards in sight," he whispered.  "Let's move in."  With that, they moved undetected amongst the cargo movers and into the hold.  "Knuckles, Rouge, recon the area.  Make sure there aren't any surprises waiting for us.  And try not to make much noise."

"Gotcha."  Rouge answered while readying her HK MP5, and she and Knuckles moved among the new cargo.

Sonic flipped his radio on and whispered.  "Charlie Team, this is Sonic.  What's your status, over?"

Another voice came from the other side.  Sonic recognized it as Barnes.  "This is Charlie Team.  We are on board, and the crew is none the wiser—what the hell?!  The doors are closing!"  

The cargo bay doors closed on Sonic's end, too.  Then, the ship started to rumble.  The engines?  "What the hell?!  We're taking off already!?"  Rouge yelled.

"Oh, hell.  This changes things…" Sonic muttered grimly.

A/N:  What?  The egg carrier Rakshasa is already taking off?!  Now how will Sonic and co. and the SEALs get out, assuming they can spring the hostages?  Stay tuned to find out.  Don't forget to review this.  Next up, a rescue at 20,000 feet.  Peace!


	9. Storming The Egg Carrier Rakshasa

Disclaimer:  I own nothing!

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, port side cargo hold.  January 26, 2003.  0833 hours._

      ***WHAM***Knuckles' fist slammed into the wall, trying to make an exit, and was only awarded with a sore hand.  They had been at it for the past five minutes, ever since the cargo bays closed, and the egg carrier took off.

      "Fire in the hole!"  Sonic shouted before firing another grenade round.  Once again, the only proof of his efforts was scorch marks on the wall.  "Dammit!  Now what?  Rouge, find anything on those walls?"

      "Nope.  We just may be—"

      "Hey, guys!  A ventilation shaft on the ceiling!"  Tails announced, hovering near the rafters.

      "Damn, I can't get to it."  Rouge said after looking up..

      Knuckles looked up.  "Hey, I can do walls, but not ceilings."

      Sonic chuckled.  "And I sure as hell can't get up there.  Tails, if you go, it'll be up to you to get us out."

      Tails landed to rest his tails.  "I know."

      Sonic drew his SOCOM pistol, and handed it to Tails.  "Then take this.  It's on semi-auto fire.  Leave it there."  He also handed the fox a chaff grenade.  "And if you get in a bind, use this chaff grenade.  It'll disable any electronic equipment nearby, E-series sentries included.  I don't have to tell you to be careful.  Good luck."  With that, he let Tails hover to the vent shaft.

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, starboard side cargo hold.  Same time._

      "Requesting a status brief, King six!"  Vasquez demanded over the radio.  "The _Rakshasa _has taken off, and she was only docked with the rig for all of three minutes!"

      "Calm down, Vasquez."  Speigal said on the other side.  "We're looking into that now.  It doesn't make any sense on this end either.  What's your status, over?"

      "Well, it appears we're locked inside the cargo hold.  It may be hours before they open the holds."

      Speigal groaned.  "It better not take that long.  We have vectored its course to dock with the fleet egg carrier _Ravana_ in four hours.  You guys better find a way out before then."

      Sonic's voice was now heard over the radio.  "King six, this is Alpha Team.  We're working on springing ourselves out as we speak.  I got Tails in the vents to attempt to open the doors on the other side.  As soon as we're free, we'll get to Charlie Team.  I'll keep you posted on our situation.  Alpha Team, out."

      "10-4, Alpha."

      "10-4, boss."

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, vent shafts.  Same time._

      "Hehe, Solid Snake, eat your heart out!"  Tails joked as he navigated the vents.  Five minutes later he came across a vent opening in the ceiling of a room.  This was probably his best chance to get out.  "Okay, here we go!"  Gingerly, he removed the vent covering, being careful not to drop it.  He thought he had it, but his tenuous grip on the cover slipped, and it clattered noisily on the floor.  "Shoot!"  He hissed.  "I hope nobody was around."  The sound of mechanical footsteps approaching revealed his worst fear.  "Crap!"  He backed his way through the vent, praying the sentries wouldn't suspect an intruder.  He froze, holding his breath.  He could have sworn his heart stopped beating, too.  Soon, the sound of those same footsteps receding let him relax.  "That was close.  Now, down to business."  With that, he slid his way back to the covering.  After double-checking to see if it was clear, he jumped down.

      "Hmm, a service corridor?"  He reasoned.  "If I remember right, the cargo holds were down the hall, that way.  Hang on, guys.  Here I come."  With that, he sprinted down the hall.  He rounded a corner, and saw a big automatic double door.  "This has got to be the cargo hold Sonic and the others are waiting.  Now to open the door—oh crap!"  He just noticed the LCD panel beside the door.  It was in the shape of a hand of one of Eggman's robots.  "A sort of biometrics, huh?  Hmm, all I have to do is kill me something."  He started to run back.  "I could have sworn I saw another room on the way here."

      He arrived at the room.  Sticking his ear next to the door, he could hear some mechanical footsteps, probably of some sentries, or peons.  He readied his chaff grenade.  "Well, here goes."  Quickly, he pulled the pin, opened the door, threw the grenade in and shut the door.  He heard the grenade go off.  Readying Sonic's SOCOM pistol, he cautiously opened the door, and was relieved to see the grenade work its magic on the bot in the small room.  Tails just opted to spin-dash it to oblivion, instead of wasting ammo.  

      "Okay, I hope I left an arm intact," he muttered, shifting through the wreckage.  In a few short seconds, he came across one undamaged.  He proudly held it over his head.  "Mission accomplished!  Now, to get back to Sonic."  With that, he went back to the doors.  He placed the robotic hand onto the LCD screen.  "Please let this work."

      "I.D. confirmed.  You are clear to enter."  The panel responded.

      Tails pumped his fist into the air.  "Yeah!  Who's da man?  I'm da man!"

      "Hey, I think I hear Tails on the other side," Rouge said.  The doors began to part slowly.  "And I think he got it done."

      Sonic stood up.  "Finally!  Alright, form up."  When the gap was wide enough, Tails shimmied through.  "Great job, Tails."

      The fox handed back Sonic's sidearm.  "Sorry, had to use the chaff."

      Sonic shrugged his indifference, then went to his radio.  Before he could switch it on, a klaxon went off.  "What the hell?!  Tails, you didn't trip up any alarms, did you?"

      "No, I didn't see any surveillance cameras on my way."  Tails answered.

      Then, what would have set off the klaxon?  Sonic switched on his radio.  "Charlie 1, this is Alpha Team.  We're out of storage, and heading your way.  What's your status, over?"

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa.  Starboard cargo bay.  0840 hours._

      "Alpha Team, get your asses over here, now!"  Vasquez yelled over gunfire and into the radio.  "We have multiple contacts coming into the cargo area, and were pinned down!  If you don't get over here soon, there'll be no more SEAL Team 3!"

      "Goddammit!"  Sonic cursed on the other side.  "Stay calm, Vasquez.  Help's on the way.  Cut transmission."  Click.

      More AK fire prompted Vasquez to drop behind his container.  Someone screamed.  Vasquez looked to his right to see Profile fall backwards, blood spurting from a wound dangerously close to his heart.  "Shit!  Profile's down!  Profile's down!"  Vasquez went back to his radio.  "Sonic!  Vasquez here!  What's your ETA?!"

      "Less than a minute!  We're almost there!  Stay calm."

      Vasquez shut off his radio.  "Stay calm my ass!"  He stood up, M4 at the ready, with tracers coming dangerously close.  "You want some of this, mothafuckas!?  Huh!  You want some!?"  He fired multiple bursts from his rifle, until the clicking noise from his rifle told him he had to reload.  "Oh, shit!"

      ***BOOM***

      Down the hall, a couple of explosion sent the entire squad of E-series bots flying in pieces.  A few seconds later, Sonic eased around the corner, hand first as so to avoid being shot at.  He laughed.  "Who's ya daddy!"

      "Alpha Team, Profile's down!  Get over here, quick!"  Barnes shouted.

      Sonic and co. ran down the rest of the service corridor to SEAL Team 3.  When they got to Profile's body, Sonic paled.  Sonic immediately covered his camera, and sent Tails away.  There was a pretty good-sized pool of blood on the ground.  Probably got hit in the heart, Sonic thought.  He bent down to feel for a pulse.  Nothing.  Sonic looked at the rest of the group and shook his head.  "He's dead."  He said solemnly.  "There's nothing we can do."

      "Goddamn."  Collins breathed.  "Dammit.  He was a good friend, y'know.  We both entered SEAL training together in San Diego.  Both of us got through hell week together, graduated together.  And we were both assigned to SEAL Team 3 together."

      A beat.  Then, Rouge spoke.  "What are we gonna do now, Sonic?"

      Sonic cleared his throat.  "Hang on."  He switched on his radio.  "King six, this is Alpha one.  Are you receiving?"

      "We're still receiving, Alpha."  Speigal responded.  "What's your status, over?"

      Sonic took a deep breath.  "Profile's dead.  You might wanna notify his spouse or next of kin."

      "Goddammit… 10-4, Alpha.  Anything else?"

      "That's all—no, wait a minute.  Did you find anything out about why the _Rakshasa_ took off early?"

      "No new intelligence on that front."  Speigal said.  "I'll fill you in as we get information.  Cut transmission, and continue your mission."  Click.

      Sonic replaced his radio.  "Well, you heard'em.  Let's move."

      "Where to, boss?"  Vasquez asked.

      Sonic thought for a moment.  "Wait.  First, let's make sure we are on the right carrier.  If we're dying here for nothing, I'll be extremely pissed off.  Let's find a computer terminal somewhere."  With that, everyone vacated the cargo area, and walked down the service corridor.  "Since this is a service corridor, my guess is we have to walk a little bit 'til we get to the main part of this crate."  He then noticed that Tails was still holding that robotic arm.  "And why are you hanging on to that?"

      "Oh, this?"  Tails asked, holding up the arm.  "I figured out that this carrier uses a type of biometrics for its security system.  This'll come in handy."

      Moments later, they came to a door.  Reasoning that it's a way out of the service corridor, they cautiously went through.  "Alright, people.  Form up.  Knuckles, you have the rear."  Sonic ordered.  After creeping for a few seconds, Sonic saw a door ahead.  "Okay, there's a door to the left.  We're doing a clean sweep.  Vasquez, you're with me.  Tails, you're behind us.  The rest of you, stand watch.  And try not to use any chaff grenades."  He and Vasquez crept to the door.  "Ready?"

      Vasquez nodded.

      Sonic opened the door.  Inside were two sentries, and three terminals in the back.  Vasquez fired a three round burst at one, destroying it, and taking cover behind the wall as tracers came out of the room.  Sonic readied his SOCOM pistol, waiting for the gunfire to stop.  It did, and Sonic quickly dove into the room, shooting and destroying the other sentry with two shots, and jumping back at the last minute to avoid being perforated by death reflex burst gunfire.  "All clear.  Tails, get to work on that terminal.  The rest of us, get in here and guard this room."

      Tails walked up to a terminal, examining it.  "Okay, guys.  This shouldn't take long.  Hey, Sonic.  What do you need?"

      "How about the brig population?"  Rouge suggested.

      Sonic nodded.  "Yeah, and get a record of all the aircraft in this place, and a flight plan if you can.  But get the brig records first.  If we're here for nothing, I'll be nothing short of pissed."

      "Uh, I can't get a flight plan from here.  We'd have to go to the helm for that.  Everything else, I can do."  With that, Tails started typing commands quickly into the terminal, with Sonic watching.  Not much later, Tails' screen came up to a menu of sorts.  "Okay, accessing brig recor—what the?!"  The screen showed another login screen.  It was obviously there to prevent Tails from getting into the system.  He clucked his tongue.  "Pshhhhhh!  Who does Eggman think he's dealing with, anyway?!"  He typed some more.  "Hmm, 128-bit encryption?  Ha!  Give me a minute to get around it."

      Rouge's eyes widened in surprise and she walked over to him.  "Just one minute?!  Kid, it takes the best hackers in the world an hour to get around it."

      "Pshhhhhh!  Just watch me work."

      While Tails was working the terminal, Speigal's voice came through Sonic's radio.  "Alpha 1, this is King six."

      Sonic retrieved his radio from its strap, and flipped it on.  "I read you loud and clear, King six."

      "Sonic, we've figured out why the _Rakshasa _left the rig early.  We've detected cruise missiles fired from the destroyer U.S.S. Vincennes, a Ticonderoga class guided missile destroyer.  We've vectored the warheads' course to the re-supply rig.  Their ETA is about five minutes.  Since that destroyer is based in Yokosuka, Japan, they had no knowledge of our black op., and thought they could destroy two birds with one stone."  Speigal sighed into his radio.  "It could've been worse, but we're glad everything worked out okay."

      "Yeah, me—" He heard Knuckles' rifle fire.

      "We got company!"  The echidna yelled, firing a couple of shells from his shotgun down the hall before stepping back into the room to reload.

      "Shit!  Cut transmission!"  Sonic shut off his radio, not even bothering to replace it, and loaded a grenade round into his launcher.  After confirming the direction of the gunfire from Knuckles, he just pointed the barrel around the doorjamb, and pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher.  An explosion later, he could hear metallic components clatter on the floor.

      "Alrighty!  I'm in!"  Tails announced.  "Looks like the brig has some new arrivals."

      "Wow, that was quick!  You should come work for the CIA when you get older."  Rouge remarked.  "So, how many are in there?"

      Tails took a moment to count the names.  "Nine, including one Ivan Antonov, and one Mark Cummings (A/N:  Notice that I'm not including any real names here?  I just don't want to take any chances.)."

      "Yep.  Those are our targets."  Sonic nodded, switching to his secure line with Amy.  "Hey, Ames.  Do you remember how to get to the brig from here?"  He asked.

      "Afraid not.  Sorry, Sonic."  Amy said remorsefully on the other end.  "I never went anywhere near the cargo holds.  You guys might have to look a little for landmarks."

      Dammit!  "Landmarks like…"

      Amy thought for a moment.  "I remember going through engineering… a bathroom… and that's about it."

      Sonic shrugged.  "Well, it's a start.  Cut transmission."  He addressed the squad.  "Hey guys, our guide tells us to move toward engineering.  From there, she'll know the way."  Sonic just now remembered something.  "Hey, Tails.  I almost forgot.  What's in this ship's hangar?"

      "I'm already on it."  The twin-tailed fox answered.  A beat.  "Okay, got it.  Man, this thing really is a light carrier."  He mumbled.  "Okay, we have twenty Hammerhead multirole fighters, a wing of five Scorpion medium bombers, five Condor dropships, and as many Rhino tanks."

      "Five dropships, huh?"  Sonic thought for a moment.  "There's seven of us, and nine prisoners.  We'll be cramped, but one dropship will do fine.  Alright, everyone.  Let's form up and move out.  Collins, you have the rear."  With that, the squad exited the room, heading left down the hall.

      After walking further without interference, they came across another big double-door.  After Tails got past the modified biometric system with the hand, the doors opened up to a platform inside a cylindrical shaft.  There was a gap between the platform and the center platform from which it is supported by two rails, where a switch lay.  There were two double doors separated by 90 degrees each.  "Now, this looks familiar!"  Amy exclaimed loudly through the headset, making Sonic wince a little.

      "Yeah, I see that switch."  Sonic walked to the edge of the platform.  He couldn't even see the bottom.  "Tails!  Hit that switch!  If one of us falls, we're dead.  You're the only one who can fly."

      Tails hovered to the center platform and hit the switch.  The platform retracted toward the center platform a bit before panning to the right 90 degrees to the middle double door.  Everyone readied their weapons at the door, Sonic in the lead.  The door opened.

      "Wait!"  Amy said.  "It's the other door.  Have Tails hit the switch again.

      Sonic had Tails hit it again.  Once again, the platform retracted, and swung around to the rightmost door.  It opened to reveal engineering.  "Is this it?"  Sonic asked Amy.

      "Yep!  The atrium should be just a hop, skip and a jump away."

      Sonic nodded.  "Right.  Cut transmission."  He looked around the room.  There were two rows of terminals flanking the way to their door.  There was also an assembly of two huge gears in the middle of the room, which probably had more gears down below.  The room's other exit was above the gears, and the only way of getting there was by a staircase and catwalk.  "Okay, let's get across that catwalk, double time.  We're sitting ducks up there."

      Before they could move, another squad of sentries entered the room's aperture, not looking at the group.  "Look sharp.  Contacts."  Collins warned.

      "Shit!"  Sonic cursed, hiding behind a gap between terminals.  The rest of the group had retreated back onto the platform.  "Well, I guess I have to use another chaff grenade."  That would leave him with two left.  He pulled the pin, and lobbed it to the other side.

      He missed.

      Instead, the toss was wide left, and the chaff grenade fell bounced off the wall, and into the abyss of engineering.  Sonic cursed silently and tried again, this time counting to a silent four Mississippi.  He missed his mark, but the grenade discharged before it could drop into the abyss, and the sentries were disabled.  "Let's move!"  The group emerged, and followed Sonic up the steps and across the catwalk.  Once across, Sonic somersault attacked the disabled sentries into scrap, to conserve ammo.  He looked back at his comrades.  "All clear—dammit!  We've been tailed!  Let's go!"  A squad of five E-series sentries had entered engineering from where Sonic and co. had entered.  Sonic fired off a few burst of rifle fire.  He managed to destroy two of them before he was forced to get prone for cover and reload while tracers filled the air.

      Rouge was the last to reach the doorway.  "Sonic, go!  I'll hold'em off!"  She switched firing modes to automatic, got prone, and fired a spray of bullets at the sentries while Sonic retreated toward the aperture.

      "Rouge!  C'mon!  You can't—"

      "Contacts!"  Barnes shouted in the other room over gunfire.

      Now they were surrounded.  Sonic hurriedly loaded a grenade round.  "Rouge!  Help the others!"  With that, Sonic fired the grenade round, succeeding to destroy the rest of the squad before they were able to get to the stairs.

      On the other side, Knuckles suddenly felt a searing pain in his right shoulder, he cried out and fell behind the corner.  "Dammit!  I'm hit!"

      Sonic and Rouge did a double take.  "Oh, shit!  Where?!"  Sonic panicked.

      Rouge studied his wound.  "He'll live.  It's just in the shoulder.  I should be able to stop the bleeding quickly."

      Sonic nodded.  "Do that.  I'll fill in for the Knucklehead who got himself shot."  With that, Sonic locked and loaded a fresh clip, and moved to join the gunfight around the corner.

      "Fire in the hole!"  Vasquez yelled before lobbing a frag grenade around the corner.  A moment later, it exploded, clearing out two sentries.  But it seemed every time they destroyed one, two more would come down the hall.  "Hey Sonic!  This ain't getting us anywhere!"

      The blue hedgehog fired a burst around the corner.  "I know, and I'm starting to run out of grenades.  I only have one chaff grenade left and four grenade rounds.  Oh fuck it.  Make that three."  He loaded another round and fired it.  The last four sentries were destroyed.  "Let's move while there's a break!"  With that, Sonic took off running.

      "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!  You'll get yourself killed!"  Vasquez shouted to the charging hedgehog.

      Sonic crept up to the next corner, and peaked around.  "Dammit!  More of'em!"  He ran back to the rest of the group.  "Prepare for incoming!"  A thought occurred to him, then.  Wouldn't Amy know of another way?  "Y'know, I'm open for suggestions, Ames."  Sonic muttered into his secure headset.

      "Sorry, this is the only route to the atrium, Sonic."  Amy said sadly on the other side.

      "Goddammit!"  He looked at Knuckles.  "You alright?"

      Knuckles nodded.  "It ain't bad."

      "Good, 'cause we're gonna be needing your shotgun."  Sonic said while loading another grenade round.  Seems he's been doing that a lot.  Two left.  "Okay, listen up.  We're gonna make a mad dash down the hall.  Me and Knuckles will lead the charge.  Vasquez, Rouge, you're right behind us.  Barnes, Collins, you guys are protecting the rear.  Tails, stay in the middle."

      "Right!"  Everyone shouted in unison and formed up.

      "Okay.  Ready… go!"  With that, the group rounded the corner.  The first three sentries rounded the corner.  Knuckles switched to his shotgun, and three shells took care of the first wave.  Still on the move two more rounded the corner just as Sonic and Knuckles reached it.  Rouge stepped up and destroyed one with a flurry of kicks before it had the chance to shoot while Knuckles deposited a shell in the other at point blank range.  Finally, they rounded the next corner, and the corridor got wider.  "Spread out!"  Sonic ordered, and Rouge and Vasquez moved to the front flank.  There were more E-series bots entering the hallways.  The four continued to advance down the hall with guns blazing, always beating the drones to the shot.  Another large group entered the corridor from a door on the right, and Sonic fired his grenade launcher, destroying the entire group.  "Go!  Go!  Go!"  The group moved double time towards the door at the end of the corridor.  Sonic took a post at the doorjamb to protect the rear.  "Let's go, Barnes!  Let's go, Collins!  Move!  Move!  Move!"  The last of the group was through the door, and Sonic slipped through.

      The next room had a massive aquarium in the walls.  Amy's voice came through Sonic's headset.  "Okay, you're close!  Up ahead is an elevator.  It'll lead to the atrium."  She said.

      "Alright, got it."  Sonic responded.  He then addressed the rest of the squad.  "The atrium is not far from here.  We just have to go up an elevator at the end of the hall."

      Vasquez sighed in relief.  "Amen.  I ain't even gonna look at another computer after this!  Let's move!"

      They got into the elevator without any interference to everyone's surprise, and everyone took the time to reload.  "Man, this has been a tough mission."  Rouge muttered.

      Vasquez shrugged.  "Well, it ain't over yet."

      The elevator stopped and the doors opened up into the atrium.  "Okay, Amy says the brig is to the immediate left…" There was no door to the left.  "Okay, that's another change in the design, I guess."  There were other doors on the first and second floors of the atrium.

      "Well, it's time to find it ourselves for a change."  Barnes announced.

      The group spread out along the atrium.  "Hey, guys!  Look at this!"  Vasquez shouted a half-minute into the search.  "Looks like I found the armory!"

      "For real?"  Collins asked.  "What's in there?"

      Vasquez shrugged.  "It all looks Russian.  We got Kalashnikovs (Mikhail Kalashnikov was the man who introduced the world to the AK-47 and AK-74.  In fact, the AK stands for Automatic Kalashnikov), some RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades), and some Stinger missile launchers, and—"

      "Found it!"  Tails exclaimed, standing at a monitor by a door on the second floor.  Everyone stopped what they were doing, and went over to Tails.  He used the robotic hand he carried for the security check, the doors opened, and everyone went in.

      "Wow!  They sure did expand the brig," Amy remarked on Sonic's headset.  Steel doors with narrow peep slits lined the walls.

      "Tails, find a way to open all the cells."  Sonic muttered.

      "Right!"

      A voice with a thick Russian accent oozed out of one of the cells.  "Who's out there?!"

      "Relax, comrade."  Sonic began.  "We're an American task force on a black op. mission to rescue the FSB Head Ivan Antonov and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Cummings.  Who are you?"

      "Lieutenant Vladimir Orumov.  I was part of the Spetsnaz squad assigned that very same mission.  We were ambushed in the middle of the Black Sea.  Of the ten sent, only five of us survived and were captured.  Rasputin's forces sent the dead to the bottom of the sea."

      Sonic blinked.  "Rasputin?  You're talking about Dr. Robotnik, correct?"  Sonic asked.

      Another Russian voice answered.  "Ah, comrade Sonic.  I would think that you of all people knew that Rasputin is of Russian descent (A/N:  Okay, before you flame me, here me out.  Ivo Robotnik.  Don't you think that sounds even a little Russian?  Just say it a couple of times.  You'll get my point.).  He's a Cold War relic.  He used to be a top Soviet scientist in Moscow until the Cold War ended.  Then, as Russia started to embrace the Western way of life, Rasputin became bitter towards both Russia and America.  We didn't think that after the ARK incident, that bitterness would be quelled.  He means to control both Mother Russia, and America—no, the entire world!  Needless to say, he must be stopped at all costs!"

      "I've been trying to do that for years."  Sonic said.  "And if you Spetsnaz want to avenge your comrades, now's your chance.  We gotta get to the flight deck and onto a dropship.  Hopefully, we won't be too far out of allied airspace.  There's an armory in the atrium outside with AK's."

      All the doors in the room clicked open at once.  Weary, beaten Russian soldiers and Spetsnaz, along with FSB Head Ivan Antonov and Sec. Def. Mark Cummings emerged from their cells.  Antonov approached Sonic and the SEALs.  "Gentlemen, let us treat you to a bottle of Russia's finest Vodka when we return."

      Vasquez chuckled.  "And how can I pass up an offer like that?  Let's go!"

      Everyone started to file out.  Cummings approached Sonic.  "You said you guys were black oping?"  He asked.  Sonic nodded to the affirmative.  "Why do you guys need to black op?"

      Sonic sighed.  "Because President Dugan (A/N:  Like I said, I'm not using any real life people) was gonna leave you to rot here by being too cautious."  The two began to walk out.  "Dugan wanted to see what Eggman wanted.  I was banking on the fact that Eggman wanted something that Dugan just isn't gonna hand over, so with some help from the CIA, we decided to take out Eggman's bargaining chip."

      Cummings laughed.  "Y'know, if you were in the military, you'd make a fine General someday."

      Tails ran up to Sonic.  "Sonic, the Russians say that we can't use the flight deck until this carrier is in battle mode."  He announced.

      Sonic paused for a moment.  "Hmm, we'll have to go to helm control.  Leave that to me.  You guys get to that flight deck.  We'll rendezvous there.  Vasquez!"

      The Hispanic turned around.  "Sir?"

      "You have the lead."  Sonic said.

      Vasquez just looked at him.  "What the hell?!  Where are you going?!"

      Sonic climbed up the steps at the rear of the atrium.  "To helm control.  I'm gonna open the flight deck so that we can get outta here."  He turned around.  "Everyone stay sharp."  The door opened as he turned back.  He gasped.  Everyone gasped.  What he saw in front of him almost made him drop his gun in shock, but then he held it at the ready again.  "Damned phantom!"

      Standing before him… was Metal.

A/N:  Oh, great.  Just when things were looking good for the group, a ghost from the past shows up.  This could possibly spell death for the team.  How will this pan out?  Stay tuned.  Peace!


	10. Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship! And Ghosts...

Disclaimer:  I own nothing!

A/N:  Hey!  Ever wonder where'd the name "Rakshasa" come from?  Well, here it is:  In ancient Hindu myth, they are a classification of evil spirits who, on occasion, can sometimes also be friendly. They often battle the gods and are thought to hurt people at night. The Rakshas are led by Ravana, their king, and are the eternal enemies of Vishnu, one of the foremost divinities of the Hindu pantheon. The Rakshas are the descendants of Rishi Kashyapa, a sage and a seer. They usually appear in the shape of a dog or a bird with a fat body, or as a skeleton.

            _Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.  Air Force One, on approach to Hickam Air Force Base.  January 26, 2003.  0850 hours._

      "That sonufabitch…" President Dugan muttered from his conference room.  The only other occupants in the room were his Secret Service agents, and Staff Operations Officer Scott Dowell.  "I can't believe this, Sonic and Robotnik both!  Dowell!  How the hell could you let them black op. like this directly against my orders?!"  Dugan snapped.

      "Mr. President, you should know full well to have faith in Sonic and his allies."  Dowell responded.  "Not to mention, I have my best field agent with them, along with a group of highly trained SEALs!  I think I like our chances.  Besides, you said it yourself after Robotnik made contact:  you'd contact Sonic and his allies along with support."  Five hours after Sonic and co. left D.C., Robotnik made contact with the White House.  His demands in return for the safe return of Secretary of Defense Mark Cummings:  the surrender of Hawaii.  It's small, but according to Robotnik, it held significant strategic importance.  They were also given the customary 24 hours to comply, and there were only two and a half hours until the deadline.  Needless to say, Dugan wasn't going to surrender a grain of U.S. soil to the mad scientist, nor was he going to let a good friend be taken prisoner.

      The President rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples.  "That's not the point, Dowell.  The point is you disobeyed a direct order!  It's the principle of the whole thing."

      Dowell reclined in his chair.  "Yeah, well, looks like things are going to work out for the best, Mr. President."

      "I hope so, Dowell.  For your sake."  Dugan muttered.

            _Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  U.S.S. Los Angeles, helm.  Same time._

      Amy gasped into her headset.  That cold metallic gaze of its red visual sensors, the jet engine on its torso.  There was no doubt about it.  It was Metal.  "Oh, God no!"  She gasped.  Sonic had barely survived his last encounter with Metal at Floating Island.  "Why now?"

      _Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.  Egg Carrier Rakshasa, atrium.   Same time._

      Sonic backed away slowly down the steps, gun drawn.  It wasn't the fact that his robotic double was rebuilt, but the fact that it would be on this ship.  "What the hell is Metal doing here?!"  Sonic breathed.  "I thought he'd be on a larger fleet carrier!"

      Knuckles raised his weapon the best he could, what, with a round already in his shoulder.  "I would think so, too."

      "I cannot let you advance any further."  Metal's modulated voice said.

      Collins stepped up.  "Like hell, we will!  Take this!"

      "Collins!  Don't!"  Knuckles shouted.

      "Oh, shit!"  Sonic dove out of the way as Collins charged towards Metal, gun blazing.  Metal strafed to the left, then flew into the air in a blur amid a hail of tracers, doing a flip before landing on the ground and rushing Collins at full speed, knocking the Labrador Retriever anthropod into the wall with a sickening crunch.  Sonic didn't even have to check for a pulse to see if he was dead.  "He's had it."  He murmured.

      "I cannot let you advance any further."  Metal repeated again.   "You will all be neutralized."

      Sonic quickly loaded a fresh clip into his rifle, getting between Metal, and the rest of the group.  "Guys, listen up."  He started slowly.  "I want you guys to get to the flight deck.  You should be able to get there from Hot Shelter."  When he didn't get an answer, he shouted.  "Move it!  Now!"

      Tails shook his head.  "You expect us to do that?!"

      "This bastard's gonna pay for wasting Collins!"  Barnes shouted.

      "That's an order!  Get the hell outta here!"  He sighed.  "I'll find a way to destroy Metal, one way or another.  Just trust me on this.  Now move!"

      "Goddammit!"  Vasquez swore.  Reluctantly, he followed orders.  "Yes, boss."  He turned to the rest of the group.  "Alright!  You heard the man!  Let's move out!"  With that, everyone boarded the elevator.

      Tails froze after getting on for a brief second, and then moved to get out through the crowd. "No!  I won't let'em fight alone!"  Just when he was through the crowd, the elevator door closed on him.  The last thing he saw and heard before they closed completely was Sonic firing his M4 rifle with a battle cry.

      "You damned phantom!"  Sonic cursed, shooting burst after burst of his rifle at Metal.  Metal zipped around the room, avoiding Sonic's tracers.  He landed on the ground level, and rushed the hedgehog in an attempt to do him in the way he did in Collins.  "I ain't that easy!"  Sonic yelled, and somersaulted up to the second level, completely avoiding Metal.  He then fired his loaded grenade round at Metal's feet, but missed when the bot used his reverse thrusters to jump backward.

      "Oh, please, original."  Metal said, almost mockingly.  "I am far superior to you, or Shadow, or Metal Sonic Mark I!"  A small RPG launcher deployed from its arm and fired.

      "Oh, shit!"  Sonic somersaulted right before the RPG could disembody him, landing back on the ground floor.  Another RPG followed, aimed for his feet, and Sonic back flipped to the top of the steps, firing three more bursts before the clicking the rifle was making told him to reload.  All nine rounds connected, but did minimal damage, only dents if anything.  "Dammit!  If I could only put a grenade in him…"

      Metal again charged at Sonic, who evaded left, and dashed along the top part of the atrium, with Metal not more than a couple of yards behind.  Sonic loaded his last grenade round into his launcher.  "I gotta make this count!"  He suddenly turned around, ready to insert the grenade round into Metal's thrusters, but Metal strafed off the ledge.  "Dammit!"  Sonic cursed as he stopped.  Metal's maneuvering was too fast to get a good bead on it.  It obviously wanted Sonic to shoot the round and miss.  

      Sonic wasn't fooled.  Instead, he took out his last chaff grenade, pulled the pin, and let it roll. It exploded…

      Metal wasn't affected.  Instead, it just crossed its robotic arms across its chest, as if mocking him.  "Oh, come on, original.  Surely, you'd think I would be much more resistant to electronic countermeasures!"

      Sonic shrugged.  "Now what?"  Wait a second.  Metal stopped.  Then… bingo!  Sonic lifted his rifle, bringing the grenade launcher to bear.  Metal's CPU predicted it, and before Sonic could level it, the titanium-armored mech took off again.  Sonic's eyes could barely keep up with his maneuvering, but before he could defend, he saw Metal barrowing down towards him, and smack the rifle out of his hands.  Sonic instinctively went for his SOCOM pistol, but Metal grabbed him by the scruff of his BDU, and flung him over the railing, and to the ground below in a heap.  Metal then brought his RPG launcher to bear and fired.  "Oh, fuck!"  Sonic quickly got up and tried to strafe/somersault away.  He succeeded, somewhat.  The RPG missed the direct hit, but the concussion of the blast threw Sonic a good seven yards into the steps back first.

      Metal hovered to the ground.  "As I said before, original.  I am far superior to you, Shadow, or Mark I!"  It boasted, leveling its RPG launcher.

      Sonic tried to clear the cobwebs out of his head.  His back was hurting.  On his headset, he could hear Amy yelling at him desperately to get up, as if that'll help him any.  "You damned phantom!"  He cursed, as if that would help him.

      Metal did his best imitation of a shrug.

      Yet, before it could fire, a figure in black jumped down from the rafters, landing gracefully between Sonic and Metal.  The figure wore all black gear:  helmet, clothes, everything.  Sonic never saw field gear like this guy's.  Then, the figure spoke.  "Sonic, get clear.  I'll handle the rest."

      Sonic tried to figure out the figure's identity through his/her voice, but there must have been a voice filter inside the helmet that gave it a cyborg-like quality.  Sonic crawled up the rest of the steps to watch the possible battle.  After a minute of staring between the two combatants, Sonic saw something that he didn't think he'd see again.

      Metal rushed at the black-clad figure, looking for an easy KO.  The black figure just stood there calmly, arms crossed over his/her chest.  "You damned idiot!  Move!"  Sonic screamed.  Then, at the last minute, the figure in black winked out of existence in a flash of light.  "What the hell?!"  He gasped.  Impossible.  That looked just like Chaos Control.  And the only two people who's been able to do it were himself and…

      …Shadow?!  No!  Couldn't be!  He was incinerated in the atmosphere.  Sonic saw him fall after they had destroyed Biohazard outside the ARK.  But, still, this guy was using the ability with a skill only seen in himself and Shadow.

      Metal slammed on brakes and turned around… only to get hit with a Sonic-like spin attack, and it stumbled back.  "Who is this guy?"  Sonic asked himself.  "And why do I keep getting coming up with Shadow as an answer?!"

      Metal stabilized itself, and with the black figure still in the air, launched an RPG at him/her.  Once again, the unknown fighter teleported away and the RPG exploded harmlessly on the rafters.  This time, Metal was hit from behind, sending the mech careening to the floor face first.  Metal used its reverse thrusters to launch into the air, but was promptly knocked into the automatic opening and closing armory room by a Chaos Control assisted attack.

      "Sonic, now!  Use a grenade!"  The black-clad figure ordered.

      Wasting no time, Sonic took out a frag grenade, pulled the pin, opened the armory door, threw it in, and jumped away to the other side of the atrium.  "Big fire in the hole!"  He shouted, duck and covering.  The ensuing explosion rocked the atrium, blowing the armory door completely off, taking out a large chunk of the surrounding wall, and second floor catwalk in a mess of burning, twisted metal.  Sonic stood up to survey the damage.  "Damn!  What was in there?  C4?  Semtex (Sometimes called the terrorists' C4)?"  After a while, Metal didn't emerge from the destroyed armory.  He now moved to confront his unknown helper.  "Alright, who are you?  And how—"

      "Neither friend, or foe.  Don't move!"  The black figure ordered, pulling out a SOCOM pistol.  He leveled it toward Sonic's head.  "Do you trust me?"

      Sonic looked at him/her as if crazy.  "What the hell?!  Hell naw, I don't trust you!"

      If the helmet and visor wasn't covering his/her face, Sonic could swear that a smirk would be on it.  "But, you have no choice but to trust.  Again, don't move!"  Before, Sonic could react, the black figure pulled the trigger.

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, Hot Shelter Sector.  January 26, 2003.  0902 hours._

      Vasquez led the group through another door.  "Hey comrade, are you sure this is the way to the flight deck?"  He asked a random Russian.

      "Positive."  A Spetsnaz member replied.  We remembered the exact way to and from the flight deck in the hopes of attempting an escape attempt."

      Knuckles lifted his rifle a little, wincing in pain from the bullet wound in his right shoulder.  Rouge strode up to him.  "Hey, you okay?"  She asked worriedly.

      "Of course I am!"  Knuckles snapped, exasperated.  "You think that this flesh wound will take the fight outta me?!"

      Rouge shook her head.  "I just asked a simple question, Red.  There's no need to get all worked up about it!"

      "You two shut up!"  Vasquez hissed, nearing a corner.  "We're almost—oh, shit!  Contacts!"  There were three E-series Vasquez squeezed off a burst before ducking around the corner amid incoming tracers.  The familiar noise of metal piercing metal let him know he scored a hit.  

      Rouge just pointed her HK MP5 around the corner, and shot off a spray, the sounds of metal piercing metal letting her know that some of her potshots hit.  She peaked around the corner.  "All clear.  Let's go!"

      "Good.  We take the next left, and the flight deck is at the end of the corridor."  A Russian soldier explained.

      Vasquez nodded.  "Okay, people.  Let's form up."  They crept down the service corridor and took a left, the defense heads far behind.  At the end of the corridor was a full squad of E-series bots at a barricade.  "Shit!  They were waiting for us!  Everyone take cover!"  Amid heavy gunfire from enemy AK-74s, the group split between the right corner and left corner, with the defense heads not even rounding the corner.  Two Russian soldiers got caught in the fire, and their torso's perforated by gunfire.  They were dead before they hit the ground.  "Shit!  Now what?!"  Vasquez shouted over rifle fire.  "If this drags out, they'll most likely call in reinforcements!"  He turned around the corner to shoot a burst before turning back to reload, the burst destroying one bot.

      It was Rouge's turn to turn and shoot a spray of automatic fire, destroying three more before heavy gunfire forced her to duck back around the corner.  Only half dozen troops separated the group from the flight deck, and extraction.  "I hope Sonic's alright."

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, atrium.  Same time._

      Sonic could have sworn the boxers he was wearing underneath his BDU had just acquired a new dampness.  Just how close did he come to getting brained?  He looked at the direction the laser sight of the black figure's SOCOM was pointing to, and followed it just a hair off of his head, close to the left side of his face?  Wait a minute, the camera!  Sonic took off the headset and his suspicions were confirmed.  His/her target was the camera.  Sonic threw away the headset; it was ruined now.

      "Throw your radio equipment aside."  The black figure ordered.  Not wanting to see if the next shot will just miss his heart, Sonic hurriedly tossed his radio aside.  The black figure lowered his/her gun.  "Now we can talk."  A black-gloved hand reached up to the visor, lifting it up, revealing the crimson eyes of a hedgehog framed by… black fur?  

      "It can't be…!"  Sonic gasped.  When the helmet came off, his suspicions were confirmed.  "Shadow!  You damned phantom!"

      Shadow smirked.  "And I thought you'd be glad to see me alive."  He quipped, his voice no longer modulated by the filter in his helmet.

      "Let me guess:  Chaos Control?"  Sonic muttered.

      Shadow laughed a little.  "It wouldn't do for the Ultimate Life form to die in a battle as trivial as that."

      "But where the hell have you been this past year and a half?!"  He remembered something else, something about him neither being friend or foe.  "And what do you mean not friend or foe?  What's your stake in this?"  Sonic demanded.

      A beat.  "My existence isn't even supposed to be public knowledge."  Shadow said.  "I'm just like you:  on black ops."

      "Who's orders are you following?"  Sonic insisted.  He didn't see anything on Shadow's field gear that indicated G.U.N. got a hold of him.

      Shadow didn't answer his question.  "Up ahead through the door at the top of the steps is helm control.  By now, your comrades should be close to the flight deck.  Get this ship in battle mode.  You should hurry.  Furthermore, there's a secret storage hangar one deck above the flight deck.  You should be able to get there easily from helm control.  You should find something interesting there.  Sorry I had to scare you about the camera.  Like I stated, my existence is to remain classified."

      Sonic shook his head.  "Classified my ass!  Listen, the entire gang mourned your supposed death!  They have a right to know you're still alive!"

      "Not yet!"  Shadow snapped.  "Someday, yes.  And I wouldn't advise telling your superiors about our meeting.  I highly doubt they will believe you.  For now, get going!  I'll be watching you."  Shadow stepped back a couple of feet.

      Sonic bolted towards Shadow.  "Oh, no you don't!"

      "Chaos Control!"  And the black hedgehog disappeared a fraction of a second before Sonic could reach him, and the blue hedgehog fell face first.

      "Damn!"  Sonic got up, assembling his radio equipment and rifle.  He also picked up what was left of Collins' ammo.  He remembered something.  Amy probably thinks he's dead, what with Shadow shooting the camera and all.  He flipped on his radio.  "King six, this is Alpha 1.  Come in, over."

      A few seconds later, Speigal's voice came from the other end.  "Sonic, this is King six.  Are you alright?  What's your status?"  Amy's voice came from the background, also sharing Speigal's sentiments.

      "Well, I'm a bit banged up, but I'm alive."  Sonic answered.

      "Did you get an I.D. on that guy in black?"  Speigal asked.

      Sonic was about to answer, but Shadow's words echoed in his mind.  "Negative," he sighed.  "No positive I.D.  Anyways, I'm heading for helm control now."

      "10-4."  Click.  With that, Sonic took off for the helm.

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, just outside the flight deck.  January 26, 2003.  0906 hours._

      Knuckles shot and destroyed the last sentry between the group and the hangars.  "All clear.  Let's go!"

      The group didn't get far before they heard metallic footsteps come from the corridors behind them.  "Damn!  More of'em!  Let's move!"  Barnes barked, and the entire group hauled down the corridor, double time.  Most of them were inside the hangar before the incoming bots were within firing range, and the last Spetsnaz soldier just missed having his skull ventilated as he stepped through the door and into the flight deck.  

      "Everyone!  Get in a dropship!"  Tails yelled, already heading towards one.  "Sonic said during briefing that they were armed with a chaingun, right?"

      "Right!  Like you can actually pilot one of those crates!"  Vasquez snorted.

      Knuckles laughed.  "I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you."

      Everyone was into the dropship, with Tails at the cockpit, trying feverishly to start up the onboard computer.  "Wait a second.  Where's Sonic?"  Rouge remembered.  She switched on her radio.  "Sonic, this is Rouge.  Are you still receiving?"

      A beat.  "Yeah, Rouge.  I'm still receiving."  It sounded like he was running.  "I've just gotten past Metal, and I'm on my way to helm to open up the flight deck."

      "10-4, Sonic."  Rouge responded.  "We've just reached the flight deck, and have commandeered a dropship.  We'll be waiting."

      "10-4."

      "Aha!"  Tails exclaimed, pumping his fist in victory.  "I got this thing going!  Now, about that chaingun…" He figured out how to operate the VTOL (Vertical TakeOff and Landing) engines so that he could rotate the ship in place.  The first wave of sentries entered the flight deck.  "Sucks to be you guys!  All guns, fire for effect!!"  He squeezed the trigger.  The seven-barrel chaingun began to spin, then fire its 30 mm depleted uranium slugs.  The first wave of sentries was cut down in a matter of two seconds.  A second, bigger wave came through, but met a similar fate.  "We'll be okay."  Tails said cheerfully.  "We can just sit here and wait for Sonic."

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, helm control.  January 26, 2003.  0906 hours._

      The door opened.  Sonic stepped in, with his SOCOM pistol at the ready.  There were only a handful of tech bots manning the controls.  Nonetheless, Sonic shot all of them anyway.  Then, he heard a voice he didn't want to here.

      "What's going on over there?!  Helm, respond!"  Dr. Robotnik's voice demanded over the comms channel.

      Sonic strolled over to the comms panel.  "Hi, mothafucka!"  He greeted enthusiastically.  "I guess a year and a half was too long without causing some shit around the world eh, Eggman.  Or should I say, Rasputin?"

      Robotnik was a little surprised to hear Sonic on the channel.  "So-Sonic?!  This can't be!  I thought Metal Beta had dealt with you!"

      Sonic clucked his tongue.  "You just can't top the original.  So what's the deal with snatching the Russian and U.S. Heads of Defense?  Torture information outta them?  Well, whatever you have planned, it's failed!"

      Robotnik began to laugh a little.  "True.  That has failed.  But," A countdown suddenly appeared on the monitor.  It was counting down from four minutes.  "I think eradicating you can't be that bad a consolation!  See you in Hell!"  Click.

      "Oh, shit!"  Sonic went to his radio.  "Everybody, listen up!  Dr. Robotnik has remotely activated this crate's self-destruct countdown!  If we're not outta here in a little less than four minutes, we're dead!  Stand by!"  Sonic began nervously looking for the panel to transform the ship.  "Now, where is it?  … Where is it?"  After about a minute of looking, he found it, and hit the switch.   The ship shaking a little confirmed that it was transforming.  Sonic looked at the countdown.  It was approaching three minutes.  He synchronized his watch with the countdown, and bolted for the flight deck.

      "Okay, cargo area above flight deck," he muttered, sprinting.

            _Egg Carrier Rakshasa, flight deck.  0907 hours.  Three minutes until self-destruct._

      The chaingun fired its last round and its spinning eventually stopped.  There was a veritable junkyard by the entrance to the flight deck now, what with all of the E-series bots destroyed.  More came in, this time armed with RPG launchers.  Tails gasped.  "Oh, crap!  Whoa!"  He strafed the ship right to narrowly avoid one RPG.  "What else is there?!"  He frantically mashed at buttons on the flight stick until out of nowhere the dropship fired a rocket.  "Oh.  Here we go!  Firing for effect!!"  He strafed the ship left to avoid another RPG, then fired a rocket at the cluster of bots, destroying them all in a fireball.

      Sonic's voice came through someone's radio.  "Guys, listen up.  Only a minute and a half left.  Just letting you know."

      Rouge grabbed her radio and switched it on.  "Just get your ass here!  Got it?!"

            _Secret storage hangar, 1:10 left until self-destruct._

      Sonic gasped.  Now this throws politics out of gear.  "So, this is what Shadow was talking about?"  In front of him was an entire division's worth of G.U.N. tanks, along with a few inactive platoons worth of G.U.N. infantry bots armed with M16 rifles.  "I don't have time to think about this!  I gotta go!"  He exited the storage hangar, heading back to the path to the flight deck.  He checked his watch.  0:41 remaining!  He found the corridor leading to the flight deck, mostly from the trail of destruction left from his comrades.  He saw more E-series bots coming down the hall from elsewhere on the ship.  He didn't have time to deal with them now, so he bolted toward the hangar amid a hail of chasers.

      "It's Sonic!"  Tails announced.  "Open the back hatch!"  He ordered, turning the dropship around, and seeing for the first time the sky.

      Vasquez was the first to see the incoming sentries and their gunfire, and immediately put up some cover fire.  Sonic suddenly felt a searing pain in his right arm, and he yelled out.  He'd been shot!  He clutched it to stabilize it, and virtually dove into the dropship, Vasquez and Barnes closing the hatch behind him.  "Ahh, shit!"  Sonic cursed in pain.  "Tails, go!"

      "Okay, here we go!"  With that, Tails set the main engines to full power, and the dropship flew out of the doomed _Rakshasa, _barely escaping the first explosions of the carrier's demise.

      They were airborne for a good two minutes when Tails finally relaxed.  "Whew!  We did it!"  He shouted.

      "Tails, Sonic's wounded."  Knuckles informed.

      Sonic laughed, out of breath.  "It's okay.  It's just a flesh wound.  Besides, I'm left-handed."  Sonic tiredly got up and headed towards the cockpit.  "Tails, try to login to the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system and see where we're at."

      "Got it!"  Tails tinkered with a few instruments, and came up with an answer a few minutes later.  "Okay, the coordinates are 2S-177W."

      "Okay, set coordinates back to Pearl Harbor."  

      "Wow!  We're that far out?"  Rouge wondered.

      It wasn't for another ten minutes when a radar warning light blinked on the instrument panel.  When Tails took a look at the radar, he paled.  "Not good… definitely not good."

      Sonic looked at the fox.  "What now?"  He asked.

      Tails turned towards the group.  "Hey guys.  Heavy group hot!  There appears to be five targets in the group.

      Sec. Def. Mark Cummings stood up nervously, walking towards the cockpit.  "Say again?"  He whispered.

      Tails breathed.  "Five bandits (enemy aircraft) confirmed at vector 180 (directly south).  Probably launched from the _Ravana_.  I'd say in about half an hour, they'll be all over us."

      All the blood drained out of everyone's faces.  Now their means of escape has become an aerial steel coffin for fifteen corpses.

A/N:  Oh, boy.  The crew has now gone from the pressure cooker, straight to the deep fryer.  Is there anything they can do to save themselves?  To find out, stay tuned for the next (and maybe last) chapter.  Peace!


	11. Resolution

A/N:  This is the one chapter that I absolutely could not wait to write.  Also, if you've played Ace Combat 4:  Shattered Skies, or have MP3 files of the music, keep the music theme for "Escort" in mind, or play it on your media player because it is the perfect background music for this scene IMHO.  If you don't have it, you can get it over Kazaa.

Disclaimer:  I own nothing.  Boeing owns the F/A-18E Super Hornet.

            _U.S.S. Los Angeles, helm.  January 26, 2003.  0921 hours._

      Speigal and Amy felt like their stomachs had disappeared when Sonic explained their situation.  Speigal had to lean against a wall for support, and Amy broke down into sobs, knowing that she'll very likely lose all of her closest friends at the same time.

      On the other side of the comms channel, Sonic could hear her sobbing.  "Ames, please don't cry over us.  Stay strong for us, and for yourself."  Sonic sighed heavily on his end.  "I think we all took this mission knowing the risks, and it—" He stopped when Amy started crying louder.  His attempts at consoling her were futile.  "This is Sonic, signing off.  God bless."  Click.

            _Dropship, near the equator.  Altitude:  22,000 feet.  Same time._

      The first thing he said afterward was a direct contradiction to that last sentence.  "Goddammit!"  Sonic slammed his radio down on the floor, busting it.  He couldn't stand it when Amy cried, especially about him.  And he was so helpless to fix the situation.  Sonic sat back in the copilot's chair.  "Well, people.  It's been nice knowin' ya."

      "Wait!  You mean you don't have a retrieval ship ready?"  A Russian said.

      Sonic shook his head.  "Nope.  Our plan called for us to get out when the _Rakshasa_ was still docked at the rig."  Sonic sighed heavily.  "To say nothing about us buying it, this will be the biggest fuck up with U.S./Russian relations since… since… I don't know."  He turned to address his friends.  "Guys, I'm sorry I dragged you along for this mission.  I guess you have me to blame for getting us killed."

      Tails shook his head.  "Not true.  Like you told Amy earlier, we all knew the risks beforehand.  At least we won't die alone."

      "Uh, thanks… I guess."  Sonic mumbled.

      Knuckles clucked his tongue.  "You're making me cry, Sonic."  He chuckled.  "For this, I'll follow you to the depths of Hell."

      Vasquez laughed.  "Yeah!  And even if we go to Hell with him, it won't be so bad."  The whole cabin laughed sadly.

      A beat.  Sonic took out his long-forgotten cigar.  "Y'know, I always thought that these things would kill me."  He muttered.  "Well, Vasquez, the fat lady's singing.  Anybody got a light?"

      Vasquez took out a small lighter out of his pocket and tossed it to Sonic.  Sonic then lit his cigar.  "Well, this better be the best damn cigar in the world, because I ain't never gonna smoke another."  He took a puff, then tossed the lighter back to Vasquez.

      Rouge began to cough.  "Y'know, Sonic.  Some people still breath air!"  She protested.

      Sonic raised an eyebrow.  "So?!  We're all a bunch of dead men here.  We're all looking at a bunch of dead men.  I don't think a little second hand smoke will bother you!"

      Tails looked back at the radar.  "Well, we have about ten more minutes before those bandits get into firing range."  He muttered solemnly.  "If you haven't made your peace, do it now."  Another reading on the radar screen made him do a double take.  "What the?!"  He began to laugh.  "Hey guys, another heavy group hot.  Five targets approaching at vector 284 (west northwest).  Looks like Eggman's not taking any chances."

      Cummings looked up.  "Excuse me.  Do you mind giving me that vector again?"  He queried.

      Tails shrugged.  "284.  Why?"

      "Because Robotnik doesn't have any major bases in that vicinity."  The Sec. Def. answered.  "So what could…" An idea hit him.  "Quick, try and hail them!"

      Tails opened up an open frequency.  "Any allied aircraft!  Any allied aircraft!  This is 'Tails' Miles Prower with Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, and Rouge the Bat!  SEAL Team 3 is also among us!  We have the Russian FSB Head with Secretary of Defense Mark Cummings onboard!  We have bandits inbound and closing fast at 15,000 feet!  We require immediately escort!"

      About a half-minute passed before an answer came.  "This is Captain James Loukakis callsign Fang, squadron leader of the 115th Eagles carrier fighter wing, U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.  We now have a tally-ho (radar confirmation) on your position.  Only problem is your IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) status is hostile.  Can you try to change your transponder?"

      Tails looked at his radar.  The five jets were being read as hostile, as well as the fighters launched from the _Ravana._  A few adjustments of the dropship's IFF transponder made Loukakis' wing friendly.  "Done.  If it's not too much trouble, what are you guys doing out here?"  He asked.

      "We have orders from President Dugan himself to escort you safely to the Lincoln."  Loukakis replied.

      Sonic did a double take.  "What?!  How?!  This was supposed to be a black op.!  How can you—"

      "You'll hear about it in your debriefing.  Take vector 282 to the carrier battle group, and you'll be okay.  Leave the bandits to us."

      "I copy that."  Tails answered and changed the ship's vector.  "Alright.  Let's hit full burners, and get outta here!"  Within half a minute, the five jets screamed over the dropship.  "Whoa!  They're flying the new F/A-18E Super Hornets!  Those are brand new!  We're in good hands!"

      "Control tower, this is Eagle 01.  What is are our ROE (Rules Of Engagement)?"  Loukakis

      "Eagle Squadron, this is control tower.  You are weapons free."

      "Copy that."  Loukakis said, strapping on his facemask.  "Okay, Eagles.  We have clearance to engage.  Splash (destroy) all hostile aircraft."

      "Roger.  Initiating splash of all hostile aircraft."  Eagle 02, Lieutenant Deborah Hansen callsign "Phoenix" replied, and the rest of the squadron strapped on their facemasks.

      Two minutes past.  Finally, the jet's HUD (Heads Up Display) confirmed the five bandits.  "Tally-ho on the enemy fighter formation.  All fighters break and attack."

      "Copy that."  Eagle 03, Lieutenant Junior Grade Joshua Connor callsign Maverick said, and the five Super Hornets broke their five-plane formation.  "Eagle 03, going in hot with AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles)."  A loud beep came from the targeting computer, signaling he had lock.  "I have tone!  Fox 3!  Fox 3!"  The AMRAAM fired.  The bandit evaded it with the help of chaff.  "Dammit!  Missile shot trashed!"

      "Oh, shit!  Those are the advance Reaper air superiority fighters.  Stay alert!"  Loukakis warned, moving to engage the lead bandit.  After a few seconds of close in maneuvering, he managed to get behind his target.  He switched to his AIM-9 Sidewinders.  The bandit started to move evasively, once or twice, breaking the missile lock cycle, and Loukakis had to start the cycle again.  "C'mon!  C'mon!"

      "Sir!  Watch your six!"  Eagle 04, Ensign Rod Smith, callsign Bull, warned.  Loukakis turned around.  

      There was a bandit on his tail.  "Smith!  Splash that bandit!"

      Smith broke off of his target to engage the Reaper engaging Loukakis.  He got behind the bandit and switched to Sidewinders  He had to get a missile lock.  "Sir,  when I tell you to, jink (turn hard) right!"

      In Loukakis' aircraft, missile warning lights and beeps activated.  "You better hurry, Smith.  This guy's spiking me!"

      "Hold on!  I almost have tone!"  The aspect lock diamond slowly traveled across Smith's HUD to the bandit's target reticule.  Finally the diamond settled in, and the lock tone resonated in the cockpit.  "Now!  Jink right!"

      Loukakis' HUD was still beeping with missile warnings.  Relieved, he rolled, and banked right hard.  The Reaper had lost its lock.

      Smith now had a clear shot.  "Fox 2!  Fox 2!"  The Sidewinder fired from its wing rail.  At this range, there wasn't a ghost of a chance of evading, and the Reaper blew up in a spectacular fireball.  "Haha!  Splash one!"  No sooner than that did the missile lock warnings flash on his HUD.  The Reaper Loukakis had engaged before had looped around, and gotten behind him.  "Oh, shit!  I'm spiked!"  He tried to turn around by doing a half loop and barrel roll (A/N:  there's a name for this maneuver, but I can't remember it.  If any other military buff does, please let me know), but the Reaper stayed right behind him.  "Damn, this guy's good!"  His HUD went red.  Missile alert.  "Oh, shit!"  He didn't have a chance to outmaneuver it or release countermeasures.  The missile destroyed his engines and his right wing, and he was forced to eject.

            _Back in the dropship…_

      The mood on the dropship was a lot better.  They were now far away from the dogfights, and were almost to the carrier battle group's defense umbrella.  Sonic had borrowed someone's radio, after breaking his in a fit of anger and helplessness.  "King six, this is Sonic.  We just may make it.  The Eagles have the bandits tied up."

      On the other end, Speigal and Amy sounded ecstatic.  The seagull anthropod also was puzzled.  "That's good to hear…"

      "But how did the President catch wind of this operation?  The Eagles said they got direct orders from Dugan to escort us safely to the Abe Lincoln."

      "I know.  We got orders to rendezvous with them as well.  Our ETA is four hours.  We'll meet you there."  Speigal said.

      "10-4."

            _Back to the dogfight…_

      "Fox 2!"  Loukakis called as his Sidewinder launched.  It hit its target, blowing off the Reaper's left wing and it spiraled down 10,000 feet into the Pacific.  "Splash one!  Three targets remain!"

      "Sir!  I'm picking up five new bandits inbound!  Just how bad does Eggman want our people?!"  Eagle 02 asked.

      "Stick with it, Eagles."  The control tower said.  "We're now deploying the Stingers to engage the _Ravana_."

      Loukakis banked his Super Hornet around to assist a wingman on a kill.  "If we're lucky, when the _Ravana _detects the Stingers, they'll cut their losses after losing one carrier and bug out (retreat)."

      Another Eagle had a Reaper in gun range.  A couple salvos to the fuselage made the engine smoke and eventually burst into flame.  "Bandit down!"  Eagle 03 exclaimed.  The squadron now had a 2 to 1 advantage.

      Five minutes later, a new voice was over the frequency.  "This is Lieutenant Commander Cordova, squadron leader of the 113th Stingers.  My entire squadron is now on station and moving to engage the _Ravana_."

      Not much later than that, did everybody notice the remaining Reapers break off their attack.  "Hey, boss.  All bandits are bugging out.  Command, all bandits are bugging out!  We're in the clear!"  Eagle 02 exclaimed.

            _Back at the dropship…_

      The last message over the radio was music to everybody's ears.  They were safe for sure.  Vasquez tapped Sonic on the shoulder.  "Hey Sonic.  I thought I told you to save that until the fat lady sings."  He said, pointing to the cigar.

      The hedgehog laughed.  "Oh, yeah, uh, I knew all along we'd be okay, so I knew the fat lady was already singing.  Y'all just didn't know."  He joked, and then something just hit him.  "And how am I gonna explain myself smelling like a Cuban cigar to Amy?  It's gonna take all the mouthwash and soap in the world to get rid of the smell."

      Rouge laughed, sticking out her tongue.  "Well, serves you right for giving up so soon."

      "Who said I was giving up?"  Sonic asked inquisitively.

      "'Well people, it's been nice knowin' ya', 'we're all a bunch of dead men', any of this sound familiar?"  Knuckles asked smugly.

      Sonic shook his head, smiling.  "Sheeeiiit!  You know I was just bullshittin'."

      The cockpit radio clicked on.  "This is Captain Loukakis.  What's your status, over?"

      "Uh, we got two wounded here," Tails replied.  "It's nothing life threatening, though."

      Sonic walked into the cockpit.  "Looks like we owe you guys a round at the bar, huh?"

      Loukakis laughed.  "Then it's bourbons around the house then.  See ya back on the carrier, then."

            Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  U. S. S. Abraham Lincoln, sickbay.  Same day.  1310 hours. 

      "GRRRRRRR!!!"  Knuckles' attempts to suppress his yells of discomfort could be heard throughout sickbay.

      Sonic sat in a chair just outside of sickbay.  His wound had already been dealt with.  He was lucky.  The bullet went through his shoulder, not even hitting bone.  All they had to do was stitch up the wound and put his arm in a sling.  The doctor said it'd heal within a month.  With Knuckles' wound, the bullet had hit bone, and that kept the bullet from coming out the other side, and the doctors were in the middle of digging the round out.  Sonic opened the door.  "Y'know, Knux.  I won't think you any less of a man if you let out a yell."

      Knuckles glared at him.  "Shut the hell up!  You have no idea how much this local anesthetic stings!"

      Sonic clucked his tongue.  "Like hell I do.  You weren't the only one who got shot."

      Knuckles grunted in pain when the doctors tried to dig the bullet out.  "More… morphine… please."  A doctor gave him a shot.  Boy, did it sting.  "AAAAHHH!!!  SHIT, THAT STINGS!!!"  The echidna cursed.

      Sonic shook his head in disgust.  "And you call yourself a man!  A real man doesn't cry over something like that!"  With that, he walked out, leaving Knuckles to utter a few choice four-letter words at him as he laughed.

            _U. S. S. Abraham Lincoln, Debriefing Room.  Twenty minutes later._

      Admiral Richard Petrarch paced in front of the table where Sonic and co., along with the survivors of SEAL Team 3 sat.  "So, you jokers decided to take matters into your own hands and black op, huh?  Although the outcome of this little stunt was favorable, what you did was reckless.  Two SEALs are now dead, all because you decided to disregard a direct order from the President!"

      Sonic sighed, his head in his hands.  "Sir, I don't think those SEALs would've minded dying.  Why?  Because they agreed to this mission.  They knew this was a black op.  They knew all the other risks involved in military operations, otherwise, they never would've become a SEAL."  After a moment, he added.  "And we've been fighting this war for years, knowing that our next battle with Eggman could be our last.  If—"

      "Still, what you did was reckless, not to mention insubordination."

      "Yeah, well, sometimes you have to bend and break a few rules to do the right thing."  Rouge countered.  "As a CIA operative, I've learned that to be true."

      Petrarch stopped pacing… then smiled.  "You have a point, there."  He conceded.  "I have to admit that if I were in the same position, I never would've been able to accept this mission.  To see that type of conviction, especially in you young people…  They say that you need to take chances to make an impact in this world.  I have to say, you jokers did good this time.  Anything else?"

      "Uh, actually, there is."  Sonic spoke up.  "I think everyone needs to know this.  While I was moving to extract on the carrier, I came across a storage hangar with a lot of G.U.N. hardware."

      Petrarch froze, as did everyone else.  "Say again."

      "Yep.  G.U.N. tanks and infantry bots were on board that carrier.  You might wanna let Dugan know about that because if G.U.N. is supplying Eggman with logistics, this could be serious."

      "Indeed."  Petrarch nodded.  "By the way, Cummings and Antonov extend their thanks.  Thanks to you guys, U.S./Russian relations should improve significantly.  Anyway, I'll alert Dugan about this situation.  That is all.  Dismissed."

            _Flight deck.  Ten minutes later…_

      "Hey, guys!"  Amy waved while at the group as they emerged from the island on the carrier.  She and Commander Speigal had just arrived.

      Sonic smelled himself.  Good, he didn't smell like a cigar anymore.  But, why did he care?  Amy stopped short of hugging the blue hedgehog when she saw his arm in a sling.  "Whoa!  You're hurt!"  She exclaimed.

      Sonic shrugged.  "It ain't that bad.  And at least I didn't cry like a little girl when the doctors took care of me."  Sonic said, barbing the red echidna, who just ignored it.

      Speigal came up to the group, extending his hand for a handshake to all of them.  "Ladies, gentlemen, it's been a pleasure serving with you."

      "Pleasure's all ours."  Rouge replied.  "We're just glad to have the chance."

      "By the way, Agent Rouge.  We just got off the phone with your boss.  He's at Hickam.  He says he's giving you the next week off, paid."

      Rouge cheered.  "Cool!"  

      "And another thing,"  Speigal continued.  "Apparently when Robotnik made his request to Dugan, Dugan tried to contact you guys at your base.  Staff Operations Officer Dowell then brought to Dugan attention our activities.  That's how this carrier caught wind of this operation, and probably how every one of you is still alive."  Everyone nodded their heads in realization.

      A thought hit Rouge.  One week paid vacation… "Hey, I know!  Why don't I hang out with you guys?  There's no way I'm spending my vacation in the deep freeze."

      Knuckles looked at her oddly, indecisively.  A week with Rouge?  Whoa!

      Amy looked at Knuckles, then back to Rouge.  "Sure!  Why not!  You can stay at my place.  And, I live right across the street from the boys, too."

      Sonic grinned.  "And since you're staying in Miami with us, I expect a birthday present from you, too."

      Rouge arched an eyebrow.  "And since when did you start celebrating your birthday?  Last I heard, you didn't even tell Amy when it was until you slipped up."

      Sonic snorted.  "That ain't the point."

      Amy wrapped an arm around his waist, smiling up at him.  "By the way, happy birthday, Sonic!"

      Sonic did a double take.  Did he miss something?  He was pretty sure the mission wasn't that long.  He looked at his watch.  Sure enough it still read 01-26-03.  "What the heck?  It's tomorrow, remember?"

      Speigal chuckled.  "Actually, Sonic, she's right.  We're past the date line, son.  It's Monday, the 27th over here."

       "What!?"  Wait a second, that means it's still the 26th on the other side, meaning he'll still have a good four hours to find a hidden bunker at 'The Strip' that nobody else knows about.  

      Knuckles cracked his, well, knuckles, approaching Sonic.  "Which means, we get to beat yo ass not only now, but tomorrow when we get back!"

      Sonic backed away.  "Don't even try it, Knux.  I can still do you with only one arm—whoa!"  Knuckles tried to punch him in his good shoulder, but he missed, and Sonic skirted across the flight deck, with Knuckles not far behind.

      "Quit runnin' like a little girl, and take this beating like a man!"

      "Quit it, or I'll kick your ass again!"

      Amy sighed.  "Well, boys will be boys, I guess."

      "Some things never change."  Tails muttered.

      Knuckles had Sonic cornered at the aft of the carrier.  They turned their heads to see an F/A-18E Super Hornet coming in for a landing right on top of them.  The both screamed, ducking their heads.  "AHHHHHHHH!!!!"  After the jet passed over them, they slowly got back up.  Sonic fumed.  "You trying to kill me?!"

      "You're the one running around like a little beeyatch!"

      "I'll kick your ass!"

      Amy shook her head.  "Uh, maybe we better stop them before they really do kill each other."

      Rouge nodded.  "Yeah, good idea."

A/N:  That's it!  Done!  Finally!  So, how'd ya like it?  Please review or e-mail me to let me know.  I may do a follow-up on this if inspiration hits me again.  Peace!


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